Patina on silver

[madej]

What do you think about the patina on silver objects ? In some countries, silver collectors really pay attention to the fact that the patina was and did not clean silver .

[oel]

Hi,

If you enter the word patina in our search function top right hand corner you will be amazed what has been written about patina; to be or not to be…..
I strongly believe not to over polish silver and love a little patina.


Oel.

[Tricky625]

Numismatists would agree in whole. Removing the patina on old silver coins would destroy the value.

[AllSilver]

I agree with that patina on old silver objects adds to the value, I would not remove

[amena]

Patina and dirt are two different things.
Silver is beautiful and sought after because it is the whitest of metals.
It makes no sense letting it tarnish.
If you gently clean it, antique silver will continue to show on his surface the signs of the elapsed time.
My humble opinion
Amena

[Italiansilver]

Agree...
Patina is not oxidation!
Patina is the effect of years and years of cleaning and handling that cause hundreds of invisible signs that give to the silver the "soft light gray" color...
in few words silver is no more so sparkling and reflecting.
So cleaning is not polishing...
If you polish old silver you remove the patina and make it like brand new, instead if you gently clean you remove only oxidation.
Sincerely speaking I like slightly oxidation because it make the appearance warmer.
For what I've seen French retailers polish antique silver...that can have good effect in pictures, but not when you have your object in your hand.
I have two very similar sugar cups, both Italian, almost same age, one come back from France, one ever been in Italy. The first has been polished, removing more than 120 years of age...

[Aguest]

Yes coin collectors never polish the coins because it decreases the value of a coin, and if you have a valuable coin that you want to submit to the coin grading companies, they will not be able to grade the coin, my friend has a story of his grandfather who had Alzheimer's disease and one night he cleaned all his 20 Dollar Gold Pieces, all of them very old 1-ounce gold coins, cleaning them with Brasso, a Brass Cleaning Product......oh no!!!

Anyway, then subject of coins set aside, if the spoon is so tarnished that the hallmarks are difficult to read, and the tarnish pattern looks like a lump of coal, those are the spoons which should be cleaned, and then it forms a new tarnish pattern as the years go by.....

I think it just depends on the specific piece and the specific tarnish pattern, to be evaluated individually......

But I would prefer to see tarnish rather than that "dip chemical" where people dip their spoons, and the spoon is unnaturally, artificially shining....

Polish the silver by hand with a highly-recommended product, and then use a silver polishing cloth afterwards......

[Italiansilver]

and make a "bath" in hot water and salt?
should remove oxidation only and not polish it...