Indeed, as the world speeds up, hotel silver seems to grow in popularity. "We're yearning for a time when life was simpler," says Ginger Kilbane, whose Connecticut company, Hôtel, specializes in selling vintage European hotel silver. A two-cup teapot from a turn-of-the-century luxury liner conjures images of the days "when coffee did not come in paper cups, when people still 'motored,' and when travelers nibbled pastries on balconies overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice," Kilbane says.

Despite the name, hotel silver might just as well have come from a train or an ocean liner. Taken broadly, it refers to high-quality plated commercial silver -- everything from flatware to Champagne buckets, entrée domes, trays, gratin dishes, fruit and fish knives, and asparagus tongs. It was -- and still is -- typically made from a triple-plated base of nickel to withstand wear and tear, giving it a characteristic heft that is greater than silver-plated copper or brass.

Kilbane, who can pick a hotel pickle fork out of a pile of flea market silver from 10 paces, describes the appearance as "liquidy" -- bright with a soft luster from countless tiny scratches. Since they are plated with 99.9 percent pure silver, hotel wares appear whiter than sterling, an alloy of 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent copper.

Hotel silver also stands out for its clean lines and stamped insignias. "The simple styles stressed elegance and emphasized the name of the hotel," whether it was New York's Waldorf-Astoria, Chicago's Palmer House, or the Excelsior in Rome, says Charlotte Crabtree, owner of The Silver Vault in Charleston. "A hotel wanted its crest to stand out like a calling card."