Hammered Aluminum and Decal

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. We are getting ready to watch fireworks tonight after we have a hotdog cookout. Hubby's already eating the cherry pie! Above is a wood paper holder that I found at GW. It used to be painted with cherries and was yellow, but I decided to redo. I used a decal from Sandy at 521 Lake Street to transform this. It was fun and easy to do and looks vintage now, don't you think?
I saw a hammered aluminum tray on Tablescape Thursdays and thought I'd share my collection. Hammered aluminum was called poor mans silver and was made during the war years when silver was not available. There are many serving pieces and trays as shown above.
This ice bucket is what started it for me. I picked this up at a thrift store years ago and got hooked. I love the look and feel of these pieces.
I do use these pieces especially when entertaining. I really don't have any silver, but I pull out the old aluminum when I need big trays or tiered servers.
Some pieces are marked on the bottom and numbered. Two of the most common markings are Everlast and Continental. The pieces were stamped out and they look embossed. Many times the edges look as is they were cut with pinking shears.
I love these servers for hors d'oeuvres and desserts.
I also have some cute small trays for snacks. For Christmas my Mom used to give me money and I would buy what I liked. I bought a set of snack trays and wrapped them up to me. Little did I know that she also had bought me a set of trays-same size -different pattern. That was a surprise to me and her on that Christmas! I love these pieces. Let me know what kind of serving stuff you use. Do you use silver, pewter, aluminum or ceramic stuff to serve in? If I missed something let me know.
Thanks for the wonderful comments for Rednesday and Tablescape Thursday. I love reading them and feel like I'm really getting to know some of you. I think that's the great thing about blogging.
Have a great day!
Leslie