As You Like it Silver Shop was founded by Helen P. Cox in the early 1970’s. Originally, the shop was a gift store, and later focused on antique furniture offering a popular item in that era: Wrought iron planter stands with a marble top made from antique sewing machine bases. Helen saved the small drawers on either side of the sewing machine bases because these had such unique Art Nouveau wood designs adorning the sides. It was a fortuitous decision, as these small drawers today hold many different patterns of silverware in our shop.
The “As You Like It Silver Shop” name was given when a landlord capriciously decided that each shop owner in a row of shops to which she rented should name their shop after a Shakespearean play, thus the inspiration for Helen wisely choosing the fitting store name.
At auctions and estate sales, Helen became enamored with the beautiful designs and tableware items made in silver. She began collecting items in small quantities, and she started a matching service for clients wishing to add to their silverware collections. Helen rented a small space on the corner of Austerlitz and Magazine St. in the mid-1970’s, and she purchased a buffing wheel, which her son, Duncan, used to polish her silver acquisitions.
In 1979 and 1980, the Hunt Brothers of Texas cornered the silver bullion market, driving the price of silver to unprecedented highs. Soon, Helen was acquiring an overwhelming number of silver treasures as people were coming out in droves to sell their silver and cash in on the rising silver bullion prices. Her business grew to such proportions as to require more space, and so she purchased the building at 3025 Magazine Street in the early 1980’s to house her burgeoning silver collection.
In 1986, her eldest son, Robert, attending Tulane University in pursuit of a degree in Masters of Business Administration, worked together on a computer project with others from his class to create a computer database designed to allow her to keep up with her customer demand. The project was mostly completed, though after graduation, the project stagnated. Luckily, Duncan moved back to New Orleans after college to acquire his CPA certificate and took up where the Tulane grads left off. Duncan fell in love with the silver business, growing it and moving the shop to the current location on the corner of Eighth and Magazine St. Today, As You Like it maintains an extensive database of customer requests and current inventory, as well as an e-commerce web site.
As You Like It Silver Shop buys, sells and restores sterling silver and silver-plated tableware, flatware, and hollowware in active, inactive and obsolete sterling patterns. In addition, we sell silver polishing products, tarnish prevention products, and other silver cleaning products in such brand names as Hagerty, Cape Cod, and Rich Glo. However, our customers’ favorite product is our own world renown silver polish, the best available anywhere. Some additional services include hand engraving, re-plating, silver-plating, and all types of silverware restoration, such as soldering, dent removal, handle repair, and garbage disposal damage repair.