Learn about antiques and collectibles with Dr. Georgia Caraway

Christofle, and Gorham

The collecting category of hotel silver and china also covers wares used on ocean liners, luxury trains, cafes, coffee shops, university dining halls, and restaurants that used fancy commercial silver during the late 19th up to the mid 20th century It does not include railroad silver and china as those wares falls into their own separate category

Better quality hotel silver is almost always silverplate layers of pure silver covering a base metal Since it was much less expensive to produce, it was easy to replace and was much gentler on the company’s bottom line than sterling More than a few specimens for sale in the collecting market today can be attributed to light-fingered tourists pinching a couple of crested teaspoons for souvenirs on their way out of the dining room

Contemporary hotel silver is generally silver plated over lightweight malleable brass The vintage variety is much heavier, since it is made with up to eight layers of silver over a thick base of nickel This allows pieces such as coffee urns to stand firm, an essential requirement when the buffet table is aboard a rolling steamship or swaying Pullman

Manufacturers of silver wares are Reed & Barton, Rogers Bros , the Blackstone Silver Co, International Silver, Tiffany, Wallace, Oneida,

The design for silver pieces is usually puritanical and simple This is due to the difficulty of working with the silver’s base metal, nickel Also, again the bottom line calls for simplicity in design to keep expenses at a minimum. The more difficult the silver is to clean, the more it costs in the service operation These pieces of siler have the names of the hotels impressed on the side, top, or the bottom of the pieces Sometimes they are only stamped with just the name on the bottom, or others could have an elaborate lacy monogram, logo, or mockheraldic crest marked on the side or top of the piece Reed & Barton marked their hollowware with symbols from the years 1928 through 1957

Some of the venerable old hotels have been restored and are still in operation The most collectible hotel wares are from the Plaza, the Commodore, and the Hotel Pennsylvania (in New York City), the Stevens and Palmer House in Chicago, the Flagler Hotel in Florida, the Adolphus the Fountainbleu in New Orleans, and the Baker Hotels in Dallas, and the Galvez in Galveston

While I do not encourage you to “pinch” hotel silver on your next overnight stay, I can encourage you to shop thrift stores and antique shops for those who are not as honest

Dr Georgia Caraway, former director of the Denton County Museums for 14 years, and her friends opened the Howe Mercantile at 107 East Haning Store hours are Thursday through Saturday noon until 8 p m She has written five Denton history books Her latest, North Texas State Fair and Rodeo, is available at Howe Mercantile She hopes her next book will be the history of Howe

Downtown Howe has three gift and antique shops Howe Mercantile, Texas Home Emporium, and Stark Farms Gifts. SHOP LOCAL We can show you Howe!

Mama Suzy

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As of right now, she relies on word-of-mouth advertising and her Facebook page

"I'd love to get business from Howe and I'd love to be in this kitchen every day" said Sauls "I want to get the display case going because there's lots of traffic up and down this road (Bennett Road).

The Grayson County Health Department was quite shocked upon arrival according to Sauls

"They were expecting wood and formica and instead they got FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) and stainless steel " said Sauls

Sauls says that most of her catering events are for graduations, birthdays, and has even done a wake She also bakes wedding cakes The cost of the catering depends on the food and Mama

Suzy's menu is quite vast

"If I can get people through that door, they'll end up calling me " said Sauls "They want to see it I know my location is not perfect, but if I put it in town somewhere, I couldn't afford it I just need to get there It's just a little country bakery."

For several months, Mama Suzy's Sweets & Eats has been featured inside the Howe Mercantile until she could get her kitchen open Sauls said she planned to keep some items available in downtown for those shoppers of the mercantile

Mama Suzy's Sweets & Eats is located at 1392 Bennett Road in Howe, Texas Her phone number for catering or special orders is 903-271-1961 It's nice to see dreams come true

Elections often produce the unexpected Obscure candidates sometimes come from nowhere to beat well-known and established candidates And at other times, honest men are bested by scoundrels The 1838 presidential election in Texas became a tragic contest that saw the deaths of two prominent candidates with promising futures

President Sam Houston was completing his first term in 1838 amid declining popularity With Texas flirting with bankruptcy as the result of the Texas Revolution and difficulty establishing trade relations with other nations, Houston had been forced to veto a number of popular measures in an effort to save money In addition, his policies of peace with the Native American tribes had frustrated many settlers. Under the terms of the Texas Constitution, the term of the first elected president of the Republic of Texas would only be two years. Each term afterward (though many Texans expected a quick annexation to the United States) would be three years It would be a straight popular vote without an electoral college The constitution of the Texas Republic also specified that a president could serve as many terms as the voters would allow, but the president could not serve consecutive terms As a result, Houston was not able to run for re-election.

No political parties existed in the Republic of Texas, but the politics of the day was divided on a personalist basis: supporters of Houston and opponents of Houston Vice-President Mirabeau B Lamar had effectively become the head of the anti-Houston faction Given the continuing threat from Mexico and memories