Bronze / Brass Cup and Bell

Dear All

I found these locked up in a dusty old cupboard. These appear to be bronze or brass, I am unable to identify which one it is.
I was told these glasses were used to drink water from. These are considerably heavy glasses. I do not think these are antique but do to the heavy weight i assume these are old may be around 30/40 years old.


I have tried polishing these up as you can see from this picture, there is still considerable work to be done. I have used lemon juice to clean it up. This had the best clean up effect. Brasso was not as effective surprisingly.


I also found this bell. i think this is a pooja bell. would look nice fully cleaned up.



Any other suggestions on how i may clean these up.

 

Yes, it is, with Garuda on top.

 

Any ideas @Any Jewelry on how to polish these up. I dont think thhey are antiques and they dont need to be polished?

 

You will need to remove the verdigris, that green stuff, because it damages the metal. Others will be along with good advise.

 

The drinking vessel is probably copper.

 

If you're in the USA, try slathering it in ketchup and see if any of the green comes loose. It's an old costume jewelry trick for removing verdegris. Ketchup is tomato and vinegar primarily, and it's a sauce rather than a liquid. Anywhere else, drop in a bucket of white vinegar. The acid takes the "greenies" off without nasty chemicals.

 

Ketchup is found all over the world. It was probably based on East Asian sauces, like Indonesian 'kecap' (two pronunciations, take your pick, ketyup or ketchup ). Ketchup was already mentioned in 17th century European documents. The Europeans took it to North America.

 

They're usually brass - water or lassi glasses/cups...

https://www.google.com/search?q=ind...jCEsQ_AUoAnoECAwQBA&biw=1536&bih=706&dpr=1.25

https://www.google.com/search?q=ind...mg&ei=7D69XpnyGcKizAL1lL6IBw&bih=706&biw=1536


~Cheryl

 

OTOH Kecap Manis is a banana sauce and doesn't work; it's probably been tried. Worse, I have the devil's own time finding that here. Not enough Indonesians, darnitt. You Dutch are bogarting all of their exported people.

 

In Indonesia and here it is a sweet soy sauce, Indonesian style. The sweetness comes from added 'gula Jawa', palm sugar, not from bananas.

Maybe this helps, a recipe for fake kecap manis. Obviously it won't taste the same, but if you can find palm sugar it will be closer to the real deal:
http://www.fussfreecooking.com/reci...r-own-kecap-manis-indonesian-sweet-soy-sauce/

 

@evelyb30 @Any Jewelry , I first experienced banana Ketchup in 2002 during my first trip to the Philippines..... I was not amused...lol..... Now, the sweet Chili sauce from Thailand , that's another story ......... and the Thai pepper I bit into in my ex mother-in-laws soup thinking it was a green bean, we don't talk about that....lol

 

I don't think I have ever had banana ketchup, is it a Filipino thing?

 

Ah, found it, yes it is from the Philippines. It has nothing at all to do with kecap manis though, kecap is a soy sauce.

banana ketchup:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_ketchup

Kecap:

 

You have to use tomato ketchup because it has the necessary acids to remove verdigris.

Brasso - I shudder to think of how many antiques have been ruined with this and Tarnex. Don't get me started. There was an evil demon on the Ebay antiques board years ago who used to advise newbies to use those on even the most delicate items. I got pink slapped more than once when I disagreed with him.

 

Dear @evelyb30 , took your advice and dunked the bell in white vinegar.
This is how it looks now. Thanks a lot.


While dismantling the bell. i noticed it was a bit loose. There are threads on the bell, which do not tighten any more.

Any ideas on what i should use to tighten it in? i was thinking something like a bluetac which will give the grip, or should it be some sort of silicon glue?


Any suggestions and ideas are useful. I have not started a new thread for this query.

I have not got to polishing the other ones.

 

I find plumber's tape useful for tightening loose-fitting threads. It's very thin and easy to layer to reach just the right amount of "extra' width needed.

 

thank you very much @PortableTreasures

 

Perfect job, Roshan.

Good advice, it can be adjusted or removed whenever you want.