Antique knitting needles ?

[DanaMcElroy]

Hi ---

In some old boxes I ran across a set of antique Susan Bates sterling silver size 5 kitting needles with gold plated heads.  They are in their original box with a card that describes them.   Unfortunately, I am not a knitter ---- I have tried that and crochet and just don't seem to have what it takes... No one in my family is either.

 

Is there any way to find out the value of these, if any? I have googled but can't find anything...

 

Thank you,

 

Dana

[magiccrochetfan]

Wow, those are very cool!  I have no idea on the exact value, but the silver content itself should add to the value, and they are surely pretty rare, can't imagine they sold millions of silver needles.  

 

I would probably try to find an expert in the field of antique needlework supplies to appraise them.  Not sure how to do that....via the Knitting Guild of America maybe?  

 

Will add more thoughts if i have any .  

[magiccrochetfan]

I could think of a couple of people who have info on their sites about antique crcohet hooks, so I looked there for knitting needles.  Didn't find any needle info, but you might try contacting them to see if they can direct you to a source for needle info.  

Nancy Nehring http://lacebuttons.com/?page_id=744

"Hooklady" http://hooklady.blogspot.com

Both are on Ravelry also.

Posting on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com would be another info source.  there is a main forum called Tools that you could start with.  

 

Lacis http://www.lacis.com sells all kinds of needlework tools and has a museum, so they might be able to help.  

 

Can you tell if the needles are solid silver or silver plate, like if the plating is worn off anywhere?  

[DanaMcElroy]

Thank you so much for the suggestions!  I just posted on Ravelry as I was already signed up there from when I THOUGHT I could learn how to do some of this---- before I realized that yarn and I don't seem to understand one another .  I looked briefly at the other links but ran out of time...

 

The needles themselves are not solid - they are hollow.  However, the hollow tubes (I doubt this is the correct terminology, but it is the best I could come up with) seem to be solid silver and not silver plated.

 

Again, thank you,

 

Dana

[magiccrochetfan]

I do hope you can find out more about your needles, I would love to hear about whatever you learn.

 

I think that most metal knitting needles are hollow.  If yours are all-silver I think they are pretty precious!  They were probably a very special gift, and were cherished and always put away in their box after use.  Or maybe they seemed so precious that they were put away and never really used, like so many of us do with things we don't want to break or lose.  

 

Now that you have these lovely needles, have you thought about trying a knitting lesson, or joining an in-person group?  With someone at your side to help, it might be easier to learn.  Or maybe you have already tried that lol, but thought I would make the suggestion!