Cleaning silver

I have this Japanese silver case marked Sterling 950 (so a bit above sterling) that has toned areas. It needs cleaning but I'm wondering if using a silver polish such as Twinkle will be too aggressive and will remove the toned areas. Not actually sure what the toned areas are. Thanks for thoughts!

 

I didn't know "Twinkle" made silver polish, only copper cleaner. And the copper cleaner works much more aggressively on the copper than most silver polishes work on sterling.

Personally, I prefer either Wright's Silver Crème or Hegarty's (although just about any cream polish should be okay.)

Hard to say what that "toned area" is made of. Many polishes will remove gilt unless it's really thickly laid on. I would use a cream polish very sparingly, maybe even using Qtips, to make sure not to disturb the non-silver areas.

 

The *toned* areas may be gold.
Of course, they could also be another, gold-colored metal, but they often were gold.
I wouldn't use Sparkle I don't think.
Perhaps Sunshine cloth or, if you don't have one handy, just a good buffing with an old, soft T-shirt.

 

Darn! Bakersgma beat me to it! LOL

 

You're back!!

 

I've got a rouge cloth and just a simple silver cloth. I could try those first. I actually went online awhile back and someone had done a comparison of abrasive qualities of silver cleaners. Twinkle rated less abrasive than some others so I've been giving it a try. Of course like with all things online it sometimes depends on who wants to sell what I guess. I think this might have been the site.
http://www.hermansilver.com/silver-polish-abrasion-ratings.htm

 

Yeah, I agree with the above. Don't use Twinkle. It's not as bad as Brasso, but it will take off more than you want.

 

I'll give the ammonia a try on some old coins and see if I can do that without making a mess of it.

 

All silver polishing is abrasive in some way. That's the whole point, you abrade the oxidization to remove it. There is an electrochemical process, where they use an electric charge in ammonia, that actually may even reverse a bit of oxidization while removing the rest. When using ammonia and q-tips, the ammonia will chemically lift the oxidization (more so than just plain water) but it is the cotton that is actually doing the aberration.

My first attempt would not be a polishing cloth. I'd try Purell and a cotton ball, checking the color of the piece not the cotton ball.

Herman Silver has a great tutorial and advise.

In the 19th century the gold would be inlay, this is likely a gold (or electrum) wash, and as gold is soft it would be easy to polish it off the surface.


.

 

I use a Sunshine cloth on my sterling jewelry. Cleans off the schmootz without taking off the warm patina that silver gets.

 

I thought coin guys recommended leaving the toning on coins

 

I'm a little bit reluctant to try ammonia on my gold washed/embellished case as I'd hate to remove too much.

 

Wouldn't OP's piece be considered "mixed metal"? I'd leave it alone.

 

Take a look at listings and completeds on e-bay, or other sites..

This type of ciggie case, with this design, lack of desired makers/retailers mark, will bring you scrap plus. It isn't rare or scarce, no older than vintage, nor can be passed off/used today as a card case or wallet for paper money. It holds a king sized pack of ciggies. Not so PC these days.

If you are selling it, clean the black stuff off....it doesn't take much. "Sunshine cloths" can be expensive and are really best saved for jewelry and touchups. Using a mild silver cream - go over the gold lightly, will make it presentable for sale. Yes, with the gold, it will sell better than plain silver, but I don't know if I would go so far as to describe it as mixed metal?