How to Clean Antique Silver
by Bob Brooke

Antique silver combines beauty with craftsmanship. But this comes with the challenge of keeping these luxurious objects at their peak luster. So what is the best way to clean antique silver effectively?

There’s nothing as disheartening as having beautiful antique silver develop a mottled brown or black blanket of tarnish, obscuring the luster. The discoloration that appears on the surface of tarnished silver isn’t a flaw of silver itself: pure silver would never tarnish. On the other hand, no piece is pure silver as it would be too malleable to use.

Silver is technically an alloy, made by mixing pure silver with copper to stabilize it. To indicate how much silver is in a piece of sterling silver, it’s stamped with the mark “.925,” which indicates that the piece meets the sterling standard of being 92.5% silver. The remaining 7.5% comprised of other metals.

This small percentage of other metals causes the tarnish to appear as a chemical reaction with the elements of the environment in which the silver is stored. One of these elements is humidity. The more moisture in the air, the quicker tarnish will form. Another is contact with chemicals in the environment, from a sulfurous dish of Brussels sprouts to home products like hairspray or lotion. .

While these elements can be somewhat controlled, inevitably tarnished antique silver will need to be cleaned. Though tarnish may be unsightly, it doesn’t damage silver, and using the appropriate cleaning techniques can help ensure that it keep sparkling.

How to Clean Tarnished Silver
When preparing to clean antique silver, the main goal is to preserve the silver surface of antique sterling silver pieces. Unfortunately, store-bought silver cleaners contain chemical components which can potentially damage antique pieces. It’s also unwise to use a hard bristle brush to remove surface tarnish or other materials, as it may scratching the surface.

Before beginning to clean tarnished silver, it’s a good idea to cover the work surface to protect the piece. It’s also best to wear a pair of cotton gloves to limit the amount of oils and other residue which could eat into the piece’s surface.

The combination of a silver cleaning cloth and a solution of warm water combined with a mild detergent should take care of light tarnish. After a piece has been gone over, it should be dried thoroughly before storing it.

Finally, for really stubborn tarnish, mixing a tablespoon each of baking soda and salt, then adding it to a half cup of white vinegar and a cup of boiling water. If the piece it large, this mixture can be doubled or tripled. This solution then gets poured into an aluminum foil-lined pan into which the silver piece is submerged. The result is an almost immediate dissolution of the tarnish due to an electrochemical reaction.

After cleaning the tarnish off antique silver, it should periodically be dusted with a soft cloth and a soft bristle brush.

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