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Glenys' Christmas Cutlery Set — 6 Pieces
Glenys' Christmas Cutlery Set — 6 Pieces
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Glenys' Christmas Cutlery Set — 6 Pieces
Polished, Painted And Packed By Hand In Brunswick
Glenys Hocking, 68, has run Hocking Plate & Polish off Sydney Road for thirty-one years. Her father opened it in 1952. She sold the building in September — these are the last 362 sets she will ever ship.
“A box of shortbread, a candle, a gift card in a little envelope. I've given all three. I've been given all three. If it's eaten, drunk or spent by the second week of January, it wasn't really a gift — it was a receipt with a ribbon on it. So I made something that goes on the table while the pavlova is still in one piece, and then goes back in the drawer until next December.”
— Glenys Hocking, Brunswick, VictoriaPut the set out and within about ninety seconds everyone has claimed one. The reindeer belongs to the grandson who always sits at the end. The snowman belongs to whoever got there first and is not giving it up. Next year, the same people reach for the same ones.
Silver plate tarnishes. That means a cloth, a cabinet, and someone deciding it's too good to put on the table. Glenys spent a working life watching beautiful canteens sit in drawer liners. This finish doesn't tarnish, doesn't need polishing, and goes in the dishwasher.
Each piece runs 16.5 cm long and a little over a centimetre and a half wide — a proper coffee spoon and a proper cake fork, not a novelty too small to eat with. Weight is the first thing anyone who has spent a life polishing cutlery notices.
The stainless blanks come in from overseas. Everything after that happens on Glenys's benches in Brunswick: the mirror polish, the hand-painting of every figure, setting each figure on its stem, final inspection and packing.
Eleven months in a drawer, then a fortnight of working every afternoon. Christmas presents don't usually get used — that's the whole reason this one exists. It is built to be picked up, washed and put away again.
Every figure is finished by hand — the face, the trim, the small details a machine pass leaves flat. Two women come back every winter to work the season with Glenys. They've been at it long enough that she can tell whose brush did which reindeer.
“Let me be straight about what this is, because I've spent thirty years around people who exaggerate it. I don't make steel. Nobody in Australia rolls cutlery stock any more — the firms Dad finished for closed or went offshore by the end of the eighties, and most of the sheds along our strip went with them. What I could keep here was the finishing: the polish, the paint, the inspection, the packing. I couldn't keep all of it here. So I kept what I could, for thirty-one years. That's the honest version, and it's the one I'd rather sell.”
Glenys Hocking · cutlery plating and polishing, 31 years, Brunswick, Victoria- One of the final 362. Fourteen hundred sets were prepared across the winter — polish through June and July, paint and set through August, packed in September. When they're gone there is no reorder, because the building is sold and there's no bench left to make more on.
- Painted by hand, one figure at a time. Not printed, not stickered, not sprayed. The face, the trim and the detail laid on with a brush.
- Seventy-four years of one trade behind it. Glenys's father opened the shed in 1952 and she took it over in 1995. It is one of the last finishing shops left on a street that used to be full of them.
- Nothing to maintain. Gold-tone finish on stainless steel. No tarnish, no polishing cloth, no cabinet. It goes in the dishwasher with everything else.
- Ready to give as it arrives. The green gift box with the window lid is the packaging, not an extra — it ships inside a plain satchel, so the box underneath stays clean.
Use them for one December afternoon — cold lunch cleared, pavlova out, everyone arguing over who gets the Santa. If it isn't what you pictured, send it back within 30 days for a full refund. One email, no questions. Every set is inspected by hand before it's boxed; that's been the rule in this shop since 1952.
| Set contents | Six pieces — three coffee spoons and three cake forks |
| Figures | Santa, Christmas tree, reindeer, red hat, snowman and stocking — one per piece, each hand-painted |
| Length | 16.5 cm / 6.5 in per piece |
| Width | 1.6 cm / 0.63 in at the handle |
| Material | Stainless steel with a gold-tone finish; hand-painted figure toppers set on the handle ends |
| Finish | Mirror-polished in the Brunswick shop — does not tarnish, never needs polishing |
| Care | Dishwasher-safe, top rack or cutlery basket; no polish, no special cloth |
| Packaging | Dark green gift box with a red and green patterned window lid — ready to give as it arrives |
| Made by | Glenys Hocking, Hocking Plate & Polish, Brunswick, Victoria — finishing cutlery since 1952 |
| Shipping | Free Australia-wide, 3–7 business days |
| Remaining stock | 362 sets — the final run, with no reorder |
The Last Run
The Last Run
Some things are made by one pair of hands, for decades, and then never again.
The Final Series is the last work of craftspeople who are putting down their tools. No factory, no successor, no second batch.
Just the final pieces from their workshops, each one shaped by a lifetime of getting it right.
When they're gone, they're gone.
Free Shipping Across Australia
Free Shipping Across Australia
Free tracked shipping across Australia
- Ships within 2–3 business days
- 90-day money-back guarantee — just email info@backroad-goods.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Email us anytime at info@backroad-goods.com. We answer Monday to Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday mornings 10am–1pm Eastern.
Can I return it if it's not for me?
Can I return it if it's not for me?
Of course. 90-day money-back guarantee. Fill it, carry it, use it through the holidays — and if it isn't right for you, email info@backroad-goods.com within 90 days for a full refund. No forms, no argument.