Carve yourself a great Chrstimas with these festive gifts...

How can Christmas be just over a week away? The fridge is filling up nicely, so this week I thought I’d talk about collectables to enhance your Christmas dinner table and make it just that little bit more special.

If you’re like the Blackburn family, Christmas means getting out the ‘best’ china and linen, and the pièce de résistance is a lovely set of gleaming silver cutlery.

Knives, followed by spoons, have been in use for thousands of years, with the knife originally used to convey food up to the mouth, as well as for cutting.

With the development of the fork in the 17th century, the knife became less of a ‘spear’, handles grew thicker, and cutlery sets became domestic rather than personal possessions.

The Victorians expanded these into vast canteens of ornately decorated utensils for strictly specific purposes.

In the best Victorian houses, for example, cream soup spoons, citrus spoons, five o’clock teaspoons, bouillon spoons, and castor oil spoons could all be in daily use.

Carrying this splendid set out in its plush green velvet case would make even laying the table feel special. It is in the centre priced £52.50. This similarly elegantly boxed carving set by

Firth Brearley of Sheffield would make short work of the turkey or nut roast, priced at just £12.

Collecting cutlery is a rewarding hobby, giving a real insight into past generations. All silver was hallmarked from the 17th century, so with a little research, can be easily identified.

Complete canteens of antique silver cutlery are hard to come by, and be aware: a 12-place 19th century set can go for between £2,000 and £5,000 at auction.

Fortunately, there are cheaper alternatives. Since sets were often divided and handed down through families (two daughters, would each get, for example, four spoons from an eight piece set), there are many small and split sets of cutlery available to buy.

It’s great fun creating your own canteen by buying single antique pieces for around £10-£20 each. Like the trend for mismatched china, a mixture of different classic styles, like ‘Fiddle’ or ‘Hanoverian’ (also known as ‘Old English’), can look very attractive, as long as you aim for matching sizes and weights.

Now all you need to do is convince (or bribe) a member of the family to give it a polish ready for the Christmas table!