There was a time about three generations back when a branch of my family tree was "Born with a Silver Spoon". My Great-Grandmother Ann Fulton was from a wealthy merchant family in Butte, Montana. As was the case with many families across the entire United States, they lost most of their fortune in the Great Depression.
The photo below is of my Great-Grandparents, Ann and Dudley Fulton. Although they both were educated and came from "well-to-do" families they spent the early years of their marriage moving from place to place just to find work. Although they did not have alot of money, they had iconic style. They did the best with what they had, and actually the only thing they had left from their wealthy upbringing was the silver flatware that my Great-Grandmother ate with as a child.
My Grandmother still has that amazing silver flatware today. The photo above is only a sampling of the set for it is truly overwhelming in its entirety. There are so many different patterns textures and designs. There are utensils of which I have never seen anywhere else in my career working with fine silver and flatware or in any museum in the entire world that I have been to thus far.
Many mornings I spent while staying with my Grandmother were filled with conversation about the flatware set. As I stirred my coffee with a spoon fit for Marie-Antoinette I listened to what my Grandmother knew about her parents. Although I never met them myself, I know I loved them just the same. They were artists and lovers of all things beautiful. They were brought up to be of a class of people that no longer existed once they had grown up.
As my Grandmother said while laughing, "My parents were born with the Silver Spoons and nothing else". If that's not an American Story, I don't know what is....
