by Courtney Barnes plioivgraphed by Eriea George Dines ANTIQUES | COLLECTING At Your Service When coffee and tea became popular in the 17th century, silver services became a fashionable display of hospitality—and still quicken the pulse of collectors today “THE COMPLETE TEA AND COFFEE SERVICE is iconic of hospitality, or at least the pot lity,” says Thomas Jayne, designer, scholar, and part-time New Orleans resident. “It is also a decorative accent that adds sparkle even to the darkest rooms, especially dining rooms weighted down with dark wood furniture.” Today silver tea and coffee sets are asso- Tea in the I8th century was expensive, A taste for Gothie style ciated with tradition, But it was something _and its accoutrements, such as teapots and _isreflacted in this circa eal i ee aes enis i 1860 five-piece, coin stver ‘quite revolutionary and exotie that led to eitles, were made in as sumptuous and eenicotar, ths their creation—the arrival of imported fashionable a style as the owner could Sterling tray is a different coffee and tea in Europe and the American afford,” says art historian Emily Eerdmans. pattern, circa 1869) colonies during the 17th century. Early American silversmiths, including