There are modern Dutch cow creamers for sale!

“ …about the cow creamer, I mean. Anyway, there it is. Toodle-pip, your affectionate nephew, Bertie.”

Honestly, I have not been keeping all the modern Dutch cow creamers to myself. (No wonder Bertie got into so much trouble.) Silver sales these days are full of Georg Jensen creamers, both modern and classicizing, plenty of Christopher Dresser or other Arts & Crafts examples, and the usual 18th-century suspects.

But tomorrow there are two of the modern Dutch variety! My pick is the cuter one at Lawrences:

20 April 2021, Lawrences Auctioneers, Silver & Vertu sale, lot 188, A 20th-Century Dutch Cow Creamer, est. £600-800.

Sotheby’s in New York has a “Large Dutch Silver Cow Creamer, Circa 1900,” which is rather too shiny for my taste, but restrained in comparison to many of the other lots. The entire sale (Style New York: Silver, Ceramics, Furniture) is quite a good argument for the wealth tax. If you need 25+ place settings of Tiffany’s Chrysanthemum service, the $40-80,000 estimate is, when the new retail price is tallied, not totally absurd (I mean, it is, but this might be the cheaper option). Might as well add a punch bowl. At $8-12,000 you’ll be happy to know it comes with a matching ladle.

For those who would prefer to drink alone—us non-Antipodeans aren’t quite at the big indoor party stage—“A German Silver Toper-Form Drinking Cup, Hanau” is perfect. It’ll even bop you on the nose in proper German fashion. Prost!