Featured Polished or not?

Earlier today i had a post on a pin/brooch, with yet again so many great answers and suggstions. One of them was to polish it - to make it look better, which i have done, yet briefly, just to see the difference.

But my question now is of a general sort; when selling a silver item, should it be polished or not? I know the answers vary a lot, but for me it is not easy to know or understand what the "market" wants here.

My pin from earlier today is one example, and below you can see photo (not for selling purposes) before and after. There is also another example, of a brooch by Unn Tangerud (David Andersen) - the dark one is mine and will be put up for sale, the polished one is an example from another vintage webshop, who have this item for sale.

As for me, i think these items, like most of your comments earlier today, is looking better when polished. But i also hear that many buyers want the patina, and see the item like more or less destroyed when it is polished.

What do you think out there, what is right and what is wrong?

 

I'm always for polishing, but sometimes you have to give it just a gentle polish. For the Unn Tangerud brooch for instance I would chose the middle way, in between yours and the one in the listing.
The other one looks best with a good polish, like you did. It brings out the typical Art Deco contrast.

Patina will always be visible on old pieces. The dark 'stuff' is mostly tarnish.

 

Hi,
Silver is supposed to be polished. Bronze I would not touch. Tarnish is not the same as patina. If people want tarnished items, time will help them. However if something has patina and you remove it it is gone forever.
greg

 

Torkel, after you polish a piece, you can keep it in a closeable plastic bag. You can even buy anti tarnish strips to put in the bag.

 

Hi Any Jewelry,
I would not keep silver in plastic bags, the decaying gases given off by plastic may damage the piece. I would keep it in a cloth bag. I used to buy the strips but found it much cheaper to use white chalk. A piece in each bag works just as well as well as being much cheaper.
greg

 

I generally don't polish silver unless it's gunky in addition to being dark. Someone else's old silver paste needs to go. That said, I actually like the second pin better the way it was found. If you have light stones in a dark metal, they "pop" more.

 

I prefer the top piece polished and the bottom one left as it is. Both very nice

 

I'm with Greg
Silver is meant to be polished.
Do not put silver in plastic. Many ladies were told to wrap silver in Saran wrap, it causes severe blackening of the silver, which doesn't come off with silver polish.

 

I've seen lots of plated pieces ruined with saran wrap. My mom always wrapped hers in old pajamas.(LOL)

 

I have seen silverplate peel off when saran or other plastic wrap has been left on so long it literally bonded to the surface. As others have mentioned, wrapping in soft cloth is the way to go if you want to avoid polishing frequently. Better yet, use it and enjoy, washing, rinsing and drying thoroughly with a soft cloth after use will keep the tarnish at bay.

 

Had to look that one up. It is known as cling film, cling wrap, gladwrap in other parts of the world. (We call it keukenfolie.) It is junk, I don't even use it on food.

I have been told that only sulphur containing plastics are bad for silver. I don't know if that is true, but I do know that sulphurous gasses cause silver tarnish.
Apparently here in the Netherlands regular plastics don't contain sulphur. Old plastics are now used to produce sulphur free oil. I don't know if American plastics contain sulphur.

 

Thanks for that Greg, I have been meaning to buy extra strips, but will order chalk instead.

 

For me, buying antique jewelry, I highly prefer to get them UNCLEANED, as seller often go with harsh polish, wanting the old thing looking NEW

Here is an old ring, showing decades of wear, which arrived to me as this:


After a 1 hour stay in hard boiled egg pieces enclosed in a plastic bag,


Then the final result after a light rub with used silver cloth:


Which one do you think has the better look and details

 

Not to say same for vintage plain sliver with no carvings, which can be polished bright to look glorious

 

Me personally, the way it arrived (photo 1). As you wear it it will tarnish from your own oils and hand washing.

I'm sorry yours after egg bath (which by the way is an interesting way to tarnish silver when needed) still needs a little rub down. I like silver to shine.

 

Sorry, the US point of view shows itself yet again

 

I respect your preference, but no way it would have tarnish only from my oils and hand washing...
Instead, the blackened spots you pointed as needing more polishing cleaned with time and... hand washing
The best way to keep silver bright is... to wear it often

 

Agree.

 

Everyone's body chemistry is different,when I was in my teens I cold hold a new bright copper penny between my thumb and index finger for 5 minutes.Then put it on a table and a distinct fingerprint would appear an hour later.A sterling necklace would turn black if I wore it all day and perspired.