Photo Credit: Grannies Kitchen

One of the questions I’m asked again and again by antique enthusiasts is why I believe that antique silver is a good buy.  Some people think it is too formal for today’s households.  Other people simply view it as an anachronism in a world dominated by smart phones and social media.  And to a limited extent, I sympathize with these opinions.

Antique silver will certainly never be used the way it was during the late 19th century, when prim and proper upper-crust Victorians used frilly silver utensils – sugar tongs, fish servers, citrus spoons, etc. – for every conceivable purpose.  But that doesn’t mean that I believe silver flatware is dead in the modern world, either.  Instead, I think there will be a powerful trend toward the adoption of sterling silverware for a very important practical attribute – antibiotic resistance.

Ever since they were first developed in the late 1930s, antibiotics have been a wonder-drug without equal.  They have allowed mankind to nearly eradicate bacterial infections that were deadly in prior eras, including killers such as tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria and typhoid fever.  Many of us have never even heard of these dread diseases and, as a result, we largely take their continued medical insignificance for granted.

This is a grave mistake.

You see, we are rapidly entering a post-antibiotic world.  It was a good run, having lasted about 80 years, but many of the antibiotics that served us so well for so many decades are now losing their effectiveness.

Antibiotics kill bacteria in two primary ways: by preventing them from building cell walls or disrupting their DNA or RNA replication.  But bacteria have a way to fight back against this pharmacological onslaught: evolution.  Although nearly all of a bacterial colony may be destroyed by a given antibiotic, there will always be a few naturally resistant germs.  These resistant bacteria are then able to replicate unimpeded.  Eventually, after a long enough period of time, the world comes to be dominated by these drug-resistant super-bugs.

This is the new, frightening world we are now on the cusp of entering – the post-antibiotic age.

Medical science has gone to great lengths to delay this day of reckoning.  In most developed countries antibiotics are only available via a doctor’s prescription.  This tightly controlled distribution system is meant to ensure they aren’t taken casually, thus leading to drug-resistant strains.  But this tactic only serves to slow the evolution of antibiotic resistant infections – a strategy that has largely run its course by this time.

Medical researchers have also worked hard to develop new strains of antibiotics that bacteria aren’t immune to.  Even so, the golden age of antibiotic discovery was in the 1950s and 1960s, when fully 50% of the antibiotic drugs in use today were introduced.  Not coincidentally, the mid-20th century saw U.S. life expectancy increase by nearly 10 years.

But as we’ve recently begun to enter the post-antibiotic era, the  medical pickings have become increasingly slim.  New antibiotics are still being developed at tremendous monetary cost, but they often have dangerous side effects or limited applicability.  And it can easily take a decade or longer to bring a new antibiotic drug to market.

As a result, antibiotic resistant bacterial infections are on the rise worldwide.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate that 2 million people in the United States contract an antibiotic resistant infection every year.  Over 23,000 of those people end up dying.  These numbers might seem manageable today, but they will undoubtedly rise in the future – possibly dramatically.

This is a situation custom-built for the resurgence of antique silver.

You see, silver is one of nature’s great antimicrobial agents.  It is effective in killing not only drug-resistant bacteria, but many viruses as well.  Better yet, there is little indication that germs develop widespread resistance to silver-based medicines like they do with conventional antibiotics.

Mankind has a long history of using the bactericidal qualities of silver to ward off disease.  The crews of sailing ships used to put silver coins in their stowed barrels of fresh water before embarking on long voyages.  This helped keep the water from growing unwelcome microbes.  Similarly, early North American pioneers placed silver coins into jugs of milk in order to keep them fresh longer.

The phrase “born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth” means that a person has been born into a wealthy family.  But the origins of the saying are quite literal.  In medieval times, only the aristocracy could afford silver utensils.  The peasants and common folk had to make do with wooden bowls and spoons.  However, only real silverware gave newborns (and anyone else who used it) protection against the common infectious diseases of the age.

Silver was a common fixture in the medical profession as recently as the 1940s.  Hospitals used to regularly give newborn babies silver nitrate eye drops.  This was done to prevent blindness from sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea, which can be passed from mother to baby during childbirth.  Alas, this cheap and effective method of disease-control was abandoned with the rise of antibiotics.

But as we fully enter the post-antibiotic era, the advantages of solid silver flatware will become increasingly obvious.  The more you use silver in your everyday life, the more protection you gain against infectious diseases.  Eating with real silver place settings is a start.  Adding other solid silver items, such as cups, bowls and pitchers offers additional benefits.  Big spenders can splurge on luxurious silver coffee or tea sets in the pursuit of a healthier, germ-free lifestyle.

But where does one find sterling silver utensils in a post-antibiotic world?  Our economy no longer produces non-stainless steel silverware in large quantities.  And what little real silverware is still being made today is only offered at premium prices.  So if you want to inoculate yourself against the rise of the super-bugs, you’ve got one realistic alternative: buying antique solid silver flatware and hollowware.

And that’s why I think owning antique silver is a trend for the 2020s and beyond.  Yes, I concede that it may take a decade or two for average people to figure out that science isn’t going to bail them out with some improbable miracle drug.  But they will figure it out; their health (and that of their family) depends on it!

In my opinion, those who have the financial means will buy antique silverware by the bucket load.  Those without the means will settle for old silver-plated utensils (which I consider a poor substitute for the real thing).  The poorest of the poor will be relegated to using cheap, but plentiful stainless steel.

I don’t know about you, but I’m buying antique sterling silver before the rush, while prices are still ridiculously low.  The post-antibiotic world has finally arrived, and it is just a matter of time until everyone else figures it out.

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