Featured Cleaning tips for HIGHLY tarnished silver

I purchased this lovely, but incredibly tarnished set of Tango Aceves cordial glasses and tray today. I have never before owned such large sterling pieces and have not a clue how to clean it. Any suggestions for cleaning? I also once read that tarnish can damage silver. Is this true?

 

Very nice find, cfh...I think you'll find they can be cleaned to sparkling beauty.
I have a sense that sterling of roughly contemporary vintage can be salvaged even if literally black with tarnish. Wiser heads will be along soon to illuminate your question. Good luck!

 

@MrNate

 

those look easy to clean , with all the smooth surfaces.....but for me.....I'd scrap them.

save me the trouble of polishing.....and who really is going to use them....so they'll sit...until they need to be polished again...

imo..

 

I was thinking the same thing. I am most likely going to try and resell them.

 

First, wash them in hot, soapy water. Then do it again! Rinse in hot water, and Dry.

Then get to work with the silver polish. (MrNate's expertise here!!)

When finished, they will look and display beautifully. Also, for some mystical reason, drinks are usually colder, and taste professionally done when served in sterling. (What is the Mexican chocolate drink?)

No

 

well, if u do......you'll likely get more if they shine !

 

They will also likely sell better if polished.

 

Good to know. I usually use something once or twice before selling. But, I would really need to wash well if I use any type of polish. Horchata is a type of cold chocolate drink. I have heard of it but never tried it. I wonder if you could add alcohol to that?

 

Tarnish is a type of corrosion, forming when the outer layer of the silver reacts with pollutants in the air (primarily sulfur compounds), forming silver sulfide. Tarnish on sterling silver (as well as less pure silver) also likely contains some copper sulfides. Polishing the silver removes the tarnish and the transformed silver it contains, and exposes a new silver surface to the environment. Repeated cycles of tarnishing and polishing will eventually wear away the original silver. A layer of tarnish, left alone, can actually provide some protection to the underlying silver.

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservati...n-workshops/understanding-silver-tarnish.html

 

One reason for a lazy slob like me to leave it alone. Oddly, vintage pieces are easier to sell with the tarnish on them. A vintage buyer wants to polish them to their own specs, and the tarnish gives them clues about authenticity.

 

You will never get these cleaned. I collect dirty silver. Please send them to me

 

Horchata is tiger nut or sometimes almond rather than chocolate.

 

It's not the case here, but occasionally silver can be intentionally oxidized to black. It is a factor that deserves consideration.

 

I would use Hagerty's Silver Foam on this set. After you wash and dry it, just start in with a damp sponge and some silver foam. Since they are so smooth, it shouldn't take too long to get them looking very nice. If I were selling the set, i would stop there. If it's for me, I follow the Hagerty's with another polish with Maas. It gets any residual stains that are lighter and might have been missed. Then I buff with a silver polishing cloth. Once you do that, they should be fairly easy to keep shined up in the future, just don't let them get to this state again.

 

Ha, you’re right. I don’t know why I thought it was a chocolate drink. It is also a liquor.

 

I thought it was rice-based, but another recipe says it can also be coconut milk. Never heard of a "tiger milk" version.
https://www.mylatinatable.com/authentic-horchata-recipe/

 

Good advice .Thank you.

 

If you can't get Hagerty's then look for Wright's Silver Cream, both are foaming polishes that you wash away