Featured Metal brooch - silver? To clean or not to clean?

Be a bit wary of jewellers who clean stuff. They tend to dip silver which is the Antichrist of old stuff.

I don't know why he said Silver Foam has been discontinued, either. It did get renamed: http://www.scjohnson.co.uk/nqcontent0933.aspx?a_id=6009 . Still sold by lots of places.

John Lewis do an own brand, I think.

 

The alternative, and this works wonders once the gunk is off, is to just use it as a worry stone. The acids in your skin secretions take off tarnish very nicely. I did that with a really tarnished old cross once. It started out really dark gray and ended up with a really nice patina. It does take a while and gets the gunk on your fingers, but it's also chemical free and overcleaning is pretty hard to do.

 

Ahh, there's probably some confusion because of the name change. Seems strange that a stockist wouldn't realise though! I bought some from eBay in the end; still plenty out there as you say.

Thanks, I'm giving this a try! I've done all I can (or want to do) as far as cleaning goes. There are some areas of gunk at the edges that just won't shift, but I'm leaving them. Still can't see a maker's mark unfortunately.

I'll post a final photo later. Thanks for all the help!!!