When I first started hitting yard sales as a newlywed, I noticed I was seeing two things over and over.  Well, aside from the footbaths and old Easter baskets that you see at every yard sale, but I wasn’t interested in those things. I was looking for old things, specifically old things I could use in my house.  The two things that caught my eye and I often came across were table linens and silver-plated dining and serving pieces.  Most were starched with tight folds and light staining at the edges.  Some of them were still in their packaging – wedding gifts that were never opened or things that had been passed down from one buffet drawer to another until they were finally surrendered to a yard sale.  What it came down to was usefulness and maintenance.  People didn’t want to do the silver polishing and ironing and, even if