11 Dec What is a Classic Twelve?
I was recently asked about a sterling silver Classic Twelve. That really brought back memories! My great grandmother had one but it has since disappeared from our family. It is rare these days to find a Classic Twelve intact.
Very few Classic Twelves have survived for various reasons. Legacies didn’t help (one sibling inheriting the coffee pot, another inheriting the tea pot and a third getting the kettle and the tray, etc.) nor did The Great Depression during which time so much silver was sold for scrap to pay the bills.
Consisting of a coffee pot, tea pot, chocolate pot, hot water jug, sugar bowl with gilded interior (for brown sugar), sugar bowl with non-gilded interior (for white sugar), cream jug, milk jug, waste bowl, tea strainer with stand, kettle on stand, and an enormous tray, a Classic Twelve was THE high-Edwardian way to serve Afternoon Tea.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a special pot just for chocolate that you pour and savor. That would warm up a winter’s eve.