In the past decorating your home with precious metals was the guaranteed way to make sure all your guests understood how powerful and influential you were. Nowadays such behaviour might be considered brash or vulgar, but gold – and particularly silver – are still beautiful materials to have objet d’art made from. And as silver and gold will always have a value, even as scrap, it’s a sensible way to invest money too.

Sterling

          Consider the 25th wedding anniversary, everyone knows it’s silver and undoubtedly nine times out of ten that will instantly translate as jewellery in most people’s minds. However reserving these metals solely for jewellery is a real shame. By thinking of more practical silver gifts you can be certain your wedding anniversary will be really special.

Gifts for men are notoriously tricky, and there are only so many pairs of silver cufflinks a gent needs. Ruling out money clips, tie pins and those other little fiddly items, why not go for something different, like a crystal and silver decanter? If you’re a fan of period interior design you can opt for a ship’s decanter, which would match any modern décor with its curving design.

Otherwise what about silver champagne flutes? They can be engraved, and you haven’t got the worry of smashing them if they get dropped! For an even more robust option tumblers are a fun gift – designed to be used regularly they won’t be relegated to the back of a lonely sideboard somewhere, they can be used and enjoyed.

Avoiding the staple of jewellery however for a lady is not so easy. Instead, look at her lifestyle and think what would she really appreciate. If she’s a keen chef and enjoys holding dinner parties why not invest in some beautiful candlesticks or a silver based cake stand? If the idea of cooking a seven course supper fills her with dread why not get an engraved hip flask prefilled with her favourite tipple and with a treasure map attached leading to a surprise luxury picnic.

With this approach, instead of just giving a gift you’re giving something that’ll look lovely in the house for years to come. And if after all that port in the decanter, Champagne in the flutes, and scotch in the hip flask you’ve woken up with a bit of a delicate head perhaps it’s time to test out the silver coffee pot, and see just how much of our your silver wedding anniversary you can actually remember!