Collectors who are setting a table for Thanksgiving can look to Terry Kovel and Kim Kovel for inspiration. Their plates, glassware, and serving pieces reflect their different collecting styles — and ages — and here are their choices.

Terry’s table is traditional. It starts with blue and white porcelain plates in the Floral pattern introduced by Spode in the 1830s. The sterling silver flatware was a wedding gift to a family member just after World War I. The pattern is Trianon. Pieces are marked “I.S. & Co.,” the mark of the International Silver Co., and the patent date, 1921. The water goblet is pressed glass from the 1880s. The silver-plated figural napkin ring, made about 1880, is decorated with Japanese fans. Terry bought the sterling silver open salt with a cobalt blue glass liner while on her honeymoon. It was made in England in the 1830s. She paired it with a Victorian silver salt spoon and a Georgian-style pepper shaker. Serving pieces include a Victorian silver ladle and a Georgian long-handle stuffing spoon, both with English hallmarks, a hefty Victorian silver cold meat fork, and a silver fruit spoon made in the early 1800s that was engraved and gold washed during the Victorian era. The gravy dish, cover and underplate are cobalt blue porcelain decorated with gold chinoiserie and a bamboo-shaped handle. It was made by the Ott & Brewer Co., which operated Trenton, N.J., from 1871 to 1892. Terry also uses a cut glass relish dish from the American Brilliant Period.

Kim Kovel favors a midcentury tablescape. The dinnerware was designed by Eva Zeisel (1906–2011) for Hall China Co. The organic Tomorrow’s Classic set of shapes is one of Zeisel’s most popular. The plate pattern is Dawn, 1952, and the butter dish and vase are Fantasy, 1952–57. Water goblets are Block Crystal’s Watercolor-Green pattern from 1984. Classic Greek and Roman architecture is reflected in Kim’s stainless steel flatware with handles in the shapes of flattened columns—Doric capitals for spoons, Ionic for knives and Corinthian for forks. They were designed in 1992 by architect Robert Venturi for SwidPowell (a studio founded in 1982 that commissions international architects to design tabletop pieces) and made by Reed & Barton Co. Also reflecting columns are the candlesticks, designed by Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) for Baccarat. They’re called Bougeoir Nusku from Baccarat’s 2002 Rencontre Collection. The backdrop is a tablecloth woven in the 1950s.

Antiques enthusiasts can add one-of-a kind freshness to their tables with unexpected pairings of new, vintage and old accessories. Find prices of all kinds of dinnerware, glass, flatware and silver in the free online price guide at Kovels.com.