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I have a very nice silver gilt, ivory and leather Aide Memoir. Some of the marks are readable Leopards Head, and the Maker I think Grey & co., but the date letter is really dirty, it looks like a lower case g, but would like to clean it to be sure. I have tried to photograph the marks - but they are small and just come out blurred

Does anyone know of a very gentle way of cleaning silver gilt ?




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As you imply silver gilt needs gentle cleaning to avoid wearing through the gold layer.
The Forum's "Silver care/treatment" topic within "Miscellaneous Silver Subjects" contains notes which you might find useful but have you tried some soapy water and a cotton bud? The build up on the date letter might be just accumulated grime.

Mike

Keep ivory off water and cleaning solutions for silver;apply almond or olive oil from time to time.
As for silver gilt wherever it`s tarnished means gold wash is rubbed off and it`s actually silver patina.Do not use any abrasive whatsoever - the most ``aggressive`` should be toothpaste on soft cloth.

The use of oil could, of course, be how the mark became full of grime in the first place.
There is no suggestion in my previous post that anything should be done to the ivory; the cotton bud with soapy water was for use on the dirty date letter.

Mike