Oh, no! Someone polished the silver!

…And now it’s ruined. A friend of mine has an antique silver tea set, formerly very photogenic, appearing often in local newspapers and magazines as a prop. It was lent out for a wedding, and well, you know how people getting married are. The whole set was polished to its utmost, down to the last crenellation, reversing decades of carefully encouraged tarnish.

Apparently, it’s extremely important for antique silver to be tarnished in the cracks, and to have a delicate patina on the smooth surfaces. Or something. I don’t really care why. Whatever the reason, it has fallen to me to make this thing look like shit again.

The poor thing has been sitting out for over a year now, and has tarnished some. I give it another ten years or so, and it’ll be back in business. But it’s a star! Photographers are clamoring for it! So here are the questions:

  1. How does one increase the oxidation process on silver, with particular emphasis on getting the hard-to reach corners? How about a fan to increase airflow?

  2. The set is pretty dusty now. Will dust help or hinder?

  3. Moisture? Should I be misting this thing with water or something? Salt water encourages rust. Would it be insane to try this on silver?

This problem has been placed before me because if there’s one thing I’m a natural at, it’s entropy. Really, I should be wearing a cape. Unfortunately, my usual magic touch doesn’t appear to be working. I thank you in advance for your suggestions.

Tarnish, or silver sulfide, is formed from the chemical reaction between silver, and Sulfur compounds in the air.

http://www.finishing.com/1000-1199/1178.html gives a simple method for tarnishing silverware; put the silver objects in a bag with a boiled egg. In order to get the nooks and crannies properly darkened you may have to repeat the tarnishing several times, and do a poor job of cleaning in between each seesion with the egg.

Thanks. I, uh, don’t have to let the egg rot, do I?

Nope. A boiled egg is actually pretty innocuous compared to some of the more biological sources of Hydrogen sulfide !

Yes. :slight_smile:

Salt will pit the silver. If you use silver salt cellars, shakers, or spoons, they should be stored empty and cleaned right after use.

Please, please, please - if this set is valuable(as in worth a lot of moola) dont listen to what I’m about to say!

OK, now thats been done, let me tell you what I’ve noticed. My wedding ring is silver. So is a little pinkie ring I wear. Whenever I do the dishes with bleach in the water and I forget to take my rings off, they tarnish like mad. It only takes a few (maybe 2) minutes for them to be almost totally black.

Maybe there could be a safe way to spritz them with a little bit of bleach water?

But whatever you decide, dont forget I warned you first.
:slight_smile: