Featured Probably my best items of all time: post 2 of 4

Thank you for all the warm comments on my first post. Here comes the second one! I was able to finish polishing this one last night (still a little bit of work to be done on stubborn tarnish spots). This took some work to get polished. The entirety of the top was a dark yellow (not a tarnish yellow, more of a sticky yellow) and I think this is what happened:

I think this item spent a good portion of it's life stored near or above the stove/oven. I'm sure everyone here has dealt with this before when something gets a coating of kitchen grease on it from being around the stove. Well multiple that by a few decades and a thick stubborn crust formed on it that took some time and patience to remove.

On to the details. Item number 2 of 4 below is an aquatic themed Italian coin silver tray edit: not coin silver: 800 fineness with fish/dolphins on the handles (don't judge me, are these dolphins??). This tray measures 28" from handle to handle, and 16 1/2" width. The tray is marked 800 in the center, and has an additional mark of 800 with a star, a 23 and AL on the back edge. Total weight of the tray is 6 pounds. I hope you enjoy this one, and remember there's still two more to go!

 

Very nice, Nate and a good job on the polishing. One thing to say, though, is that Italian silver of .800 fineness is not called "coin." Coin is a US term, not normally applicable to other countries. The fineness number is what it's called - 800 silver in this case.

 

Oh, my, Nate! That is lovely! VERY nice job on cleaning it up, too!

 

Right, Bakers!

And isn't "coin" 900 fineness, anyway?

 

Yes, that is also true.

 

It looks LOVELY Nate .. as your polished items always do .. VERY nice indeed !!! .. Joy.

 

VERY nice, Nate!!! LOVING the Dolphin handles!!!!!

 

I've found a good blob of cream hand cleaner will take care of most grease laden items - it will get the majority of it off ..also, on metals like this, paint remover can get the muck off efficiently too.

 

Jeepers...... Mr N8.......if you're saving the best for last.........we may be too blown away by then !!!!

 

Made by I.M.A di Guercia & Co Alessandria Italy active 1935-1971.

 

Hey Nate, really enjoying your posts. If you get a chance, could you show us some before polishing pics on these posts also? Trying to develop an "eye" for what to look closer at when we are out "hunting".

 

lol, that is what I was thinking too komokwa
Looks fabulous with all your hard work to clean and polish Mr Nate! Can't wait to see the next 2 pieces

 

Amazing! I'm so jealous

 

you mean envious....not jealous.....you're to nice to be jealous..!!

 

Thank you cxgirl (and komokwa) and yes, always save the best for last!

 

Absolutely, I'll provide a bit more thoughts after the fourth item is revealed. Sometimes it can feel like these are super obvious to spot, but I didn't find them super obvious, in fact I thought there was a good chance I would show up and everything would be plated. For this group, I didn't get any additional information, I didn't have marks to work off of, so I had to trust my intuition, and find whatever clues I could to make a determination. I'll talk about that more later on. The seder plate was the key to deciding to make this purchase blindly, and even that was still a gamble but clearly one that turned out correct. Here's two photos of the first two items pre-polish:

 

The Silver King strikes again !!!!!

 

Thanks N8, that's gr8!

 

Gorgeous! Thank you --

 

Beautiful handles. Nicely done! I saw one of the other posts. My question is, was the home ridiculously luxurious? Had they been inherited from the luxurious people and now residing in a normal home? Were the owners Italian?