Antiques - Clean Them Up Or Not

Polish. It looks better. ;-)

Hey Raven Cravin how you do?

Hiya Joanne! Long time no see!

I've always figured that if the piece was really valuable and a true collectors item it should be left alone. Any cleaning I could do myself would be likely to cause long term damage to it.

If it's something that I just picked up because I liked it and it really isn't all that valuable or rare then I'd go ahead and clean it up and use it as a display piece.

If I were selling items I wouldn't clean any of them. If the buyer wants it cleaned they can do that themselves and a lot of them DO think things should be left alone so they'll be turned off from buying whether their concern is justified or not.

We owe some silver and tin dishes, bits and pieces from 16th century onwards: they are all polished.

And the antique furniture looks used as well, but has always been polished.

Been wonderin' where ya been. ;-)

If I was buying to sell, I'd leave brass and pewter alone, and polish the silver - unless it is a SERIOUS collectible. Then I'd leave that alone as well. So, a sort of mixed vote.

I've seen too many pieces reduced in value due to the vendor's cleaning/polishing.

The question of polishing is a tricky one. It's one of the reasons I never bought metals with an eye to re-sale. Crystal's easy. Then again, around here, no one wants crystal anymore. Oy!

Craven I am computerless most of the time and when I do have acess it is WindowsMe with AOL. Way to much trouble for me.

The polishing thing is so confusing to me. I can understand leaving things as they are. But how can you determine age for any item if identify marks are covered over?

Beth what have you done to your hair, eh.

In some cases the tarnish protects the piece from pollution, dust, and so on (it can function as a protective layer). In a controlled environment, such as a museum, exposure to the elements is more controlled and they may want a piece meant for beauty and shine to look it's best, but they wouldn't polish, say, a bronze artifact. Also, I'm sure a museum would clean their pieces properly, in a safe and archival fashion.

Because you are selling them, you could experiment with polished vs. non-polished items of similar value and see which sell for more. Note- with a polished piece of metal, it is much easier to see flaws.

side note- Make sure people know they are not actually supposed to touch a lot/ drink out of any copper, bronze, or pewter, unless it's very well sealed.

In some cases the tarnish protects the piece from pollution, dust, and so on (it can function as a protective layer). In a controlled environment, such as a museum, exposure to the elements is more controlled and they may want a piece meant for beauty and shine to look it's best, but they wouldn't polish, say, a bronze artifact.

Because you are selling them, you could experiment with polished vs. non-polished items of similar value and see which sell for more. Note- with a polished piece of metal, it is much easier to see flaws.

side note- Make sure people know they are not actually supposed to touch a lot/ drink out of any copper, bronze, or pewter, unless it's very well sealed.

Good idea Portal Star I will try to sell tarnished and untarnished and see what happens. Just last Sunday I picke up a couple of chineses bowls one encased in brass and one in pewter. I will not polish them and see what happens.

That last show I had two, I had them polished and they sold right away one to an antique dealer and one to a collector.

just catching up Joanne. As you may know, we collect antiques and the rule of thumb is for everything but silver. ":Patina is half the value" especially for things that develop and age patina over measured time. believe it or not, brass develops a patina slowly, and it can be seen easily whether the tarnish or patina is one year o one centuy old
An example of this is a hammered brass and copper lamp that was made by Dirk van Erp in the early 20th Century. A caring owner kept it shiny as a new penny. it went to an auction where it brought about 12000$. had the patina been not screwed with, it would have been worth more like 25000$.
leigh and Leslkie Keno are going to be in a new PBS series called "FIND", I was privileged to see some pre rushes and it will have sections on just this topic,
The Kenos, Jake Sacks, Phil Bradely jr, ChrisMachemer, and a few other natonal experts (Oops Dave Rago) have all agreed with someone above. If there is value desired leave it untouched.
In our recent visit to some coastal towns and cities of Maritime Canada, we were surprised at how Canadians take old painted wooden furniture like really neat step back cupboards and corner cupboards, and sTRIP the paint from them. In the US, those objects would be almost totally worthless.
I do 'picking" for certain dealers and we collect pieces of one type of furnituyre, till we find a better one and then we sell at conestoga auction Company .
The dealers I pick for trust my judgement and all i usually do is call them about a piece and we agree on a price for me to purchase and he to buy from me
All my dealers have one strict rule 'NO STRIPPING OR POLISHING"

Farmerman has a point that echoes others in this thread and I would have to agree that one shouldn't polish an antique unless they intend on keeping it. However, it may end up in an estate one day so your heirs might like to see the objects keep their value.

Finally, I decided to polish brass and silver and to remove bronze disease if possible. Restoration done by a professional is ok if it makes the piece functional if it was meant to be functional.

In my opinion Antique Road Show has had to much influence in general since they are looking for perfection in old items.

This conversation had reminded me of an all day session I attended at the NGA regarding a painting by Raphael. The restored version was very colorful and showed figures and detail not previously seen.

After listening to and all day debate between curators, art historians, and artists. I have to go with restore and polish in order to see what the artist or artesian had in mind.

art and antiques are entirely 2 different animals. cleaning and restoring a painting doesnt involve removing the color, while in arts and crafts brass and copper, Im amazed that curators would say "clean it and polish it". Thats not any ANtiques Roadshow advice, thats from the industry. Anyway, AR is making many people more aware that patina is worth something on a piece.
The market is the real test. You are not the owner of any good piece, you are merely a caretaker for a time, if its not a great piece , its no biggy. However, if its a true antique that is worth saving for later, as well as your enjoyment, keep it natural, not shiny.
Since you already done it , you cant re- patinate it with a believable lutre that only comes with time, even though they sell selenous acid to rub over your brasses and ammonium cupric sulphate and "liver of sulfur" for copper

FM your advice is a treasure and I love this, that says it all.

The brass will tarnish up pretty fast and the one good piece I have is pitted with bronze disease and has some dings and dents just like it should be. I will not polish it again.

Keep in mind that Bronze and Copper patinas are very toxic and shouldn't be handled too much. They won't even let pregnant or planning soon on pregnant women take metal classes.

I clean the decades of dirt and grime off my silverware even if it takes several days....It is thrilling to me to return it to its original gleaming condition.

Well I love the gleem too SP. And I thought or am I imgaining it that brass was the poor man's gold?

Thanks for the info on toxcity PS I only use ceaning chemicals on metal outside.

PS and SP and everyone else maybe you can help me with this. As I am Art Brutish - I picked up some steer skulls and horns while in OKC, OK, and am planning to paint them. One of the skulls is really old and fragile. Any ideas on out to preserve the bone without detracting from the texture so it show through the paint.

The horns I am going to polish I have one regular set and one set of long horns. The same with the skulls.