One of the world's finest, private collections of English silverware is being shown at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum in Australia.(Photo: CCTV.com)Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, May 7 -- One of the world's finest, private collections of English silverware is being shown at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum in Australia.

    These are pieces fashioned hundreds of years ago for the landed gentry. The table implements give fascinating glimpses into what life was like back then, for people who came as close as could be, to being born with silver spoons in their mouths.

    The shining silver masterpieces shed some light on at the dining tables of London's wealthy during the seventeen hundreds. Most of the silverware pieces were fashioned by Paul de Lamerie, regarded as the finest silversmith of the day.

    Eva Czernis Ryl, Powerhouse Museum, said, "Life was fabulous again. We are talking about the age of enlightenment, when people started actually enjoying their life again. We are talking about the educated elite. We are talking about the court that set the fashion. We are talking about the cosmopolitan elite. Aristocracy, landed gentry, the professional classes that were aspiring to outdo each other".

    The silverware belongs to one person, American collector and businessman Paul Cahn. He started collecting marbles and stamps as a child and never kicked the collecting habit.

    Paul Cahn, collector, said, "It's a disease, you never stop, I mean it's like a drug addict, you never stop." Cahn started this collection in 1990. He is always on the lookout for more of Lamerie's silverware. A coup was the purchase of a 1736 Maynard dish. Intricately carved, it's regarded as the most important piece.

    Paul Cahn said, "It was owned by a German industrialist in London. He was getting divorced and needed to get rid of it."

    Another rarity is a soup tureen. Made in the shape of an upside down turtle, it gives a clue as to what was on the menu in fashionable dining rooms.

    Paul Cahn's love of silver maybe traced to his silversmith grandfather. His family was forced to flee Germany in 1939 and all the silver was confiscated by the Nazis. Recently, the collector tracked down some of the pieces on the Internet.

    Paul Cahn said, "I've always had an ambition to get some of it back and I'm happy to say I have some of my grandfather's silver now."

    The exhibition is on display at the Powerhouse Museum until the end of June.

    (Source: CCTV.com)