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This month I have an article published in the Illinois Bar Newsletter titled: "Standard Visitation" and the Best Interest of the Child (March 2009; Pages 138-141). As such I cerebration I would write about something else in my blog. I warned you I might discuss antiques and movies but I didn't say I would discuss them both together. Well I will.

The movie "Cursed" is a werewolf talkie staring Christinia Ricci and directed by Wes Craven. In the movie Christinia Ricci stabs a werewolf with a silver kind of flatware. Of course werewolves hate silver bullets but it appears they are equally distasteful of common eating utensils made of silver. The only complication is that most sterling butter knives have a steel blade and a hollow sterling handle. I few may have a silver plated jackknife. After all silver is generally too soft a metal to use to cut food and certainly not an ideal weapon.

This brings me to my discussion of antiques. A inferior item in Victorian times particularly in England was the "fruit knife". A folding or pocket knife with a mother of pearl helve and a sterling silver blade. The blade is not plated but almost pure silver (at least 92.5 percent pure - sterling guideline). Since most "fruit knives" are English they will have hallmarks on the blade. A lion with a raised paw (or passant) is a symbol for sterling silver, a note is a symbol for the date the knife was made, and a symbol or initials tell you who made the knife. American fruit knives were also popular but are generally pronounced with the word "sterling" or sometimes "coin silver". These knives were designed to cut soft fruit so a steel blade is not needed.

Most of these knives were made between 1800-1920. If you can find such a knife made in the 18th Century it will probable be more valuable. Some of these knives were made with tortoise shell or ivory handles. The American version often will have silver scales. I have even seen a few "fruit forks".

These knives are not unduly...

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19.01.10

What this homeland needs is a good five-cent cigar. But what it also needs is something to keep the cigar fresh when you want to put it out but you're not finished smoking it.

And it would be close by to have a bagel slicer so you could prepare it without cutting your hand; and a carving tray so that the turkey doesn't gloss around as you're trying to serve it up at the Thanksgiving Day table.

Arthur Beloff, a Palm Beach retired proper estate entrepreneur turned inventor, has come up with all of these things and more.

Well, not the five-cent cigar. That request, from Woodrow Wilson's degradation president, Thomas Marshall, may never be realized. But it's possible that Beloff's "Cigar Savor" is the next best fashion.

Having time and ideas

Beloff came up with the Cigar Savor about eight years ago. It's a cylindrical tube with a self-adjusting come into being inside that pushes up against the lit end, snuffing it out. The cap has a punch pin that keeps the tip end open for later, and an outside clip lets you handle it around in your shirt pocket, like a pen.

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