posted 07-22-2014 06:43 AM            

I know nothing about silver, so excuse my silly questions, but is it safe to use still? Any tips on storing and using?

I am going to attempt to post a picture of it. Can it be saved and cleaned? It is very tarnished. Will silver cleaner do the trick? It is yellowed and has some black spots and what look like water spots on the tray.

Does anyone know any information on this set? It looks like it has horseshoes and four leaf clovers on the sides. There are grapevines on the tray.

Thanks in advance!

posted 07-22-2014 07:41 AM            

Silver plated things have a relatively thin layer of silver over some other kind of metal so you need to be careful when polishing it. If you get overly enthusiastic with something too powerful or too abrasive you can take of that thin layer of silver and expose the underlying metal. So, the first piece of advice is do not let anyone near it with a buffing or polishing machine. Second, there are chemical dips you can buy that "magically" remove tarnish but you should run away from those as well. The reason is three-fold: they do not work that well on seriously heavy tarnish; they not only remove the tarnish from the object, but they also remove the tarnish from all of the nooks and crannies and crevices making it look like it was made yesterday - in other words it removes all of the patina that gives older silver and silver plate its attractiveness; and, they contain a chemical called thiourea which can cause cancer if it gets on your skin.

It is possible that your tea set may be yellowish splotchy looking because it could have a coat of some kind of varnish on it. This was a common practice to keep silver and silver plate from tarnishing, but over time it can wind up looking yellowish and where it has worn through or chipped off you can get tarnish spots and areas. Silver polish does not remove varnish so you might want to try a little nail polish remover or varnish remover if you think that you may have some varnish coating on your set.

Once you are ready to begin polishing, you should get any of the big name brand silver polishes (liquid or paste) and apply it with a clean and very soft piece of 100 percent cotton cloth (old t-shirts that are extra soft from a million washings can be good). Take your time, it is not a race an do not scrub so hard that someone will think you are trying to dig a hole to the other side of the earth. Hopefully it will clean up nicely, unless it was abused at some point in the past before it was put away. As a last resort if it already has areas where the silver plating was worn away, or if you accidently do it you can get things replated, but that can be a bit pricey. As for using it, yes absolutely, silver and silver plate was made to be used that you should use this often and think of your mom each time. Before you do though, you should clean it out thoroughly to get any gunk or crud or whatever may be inside. For something that is hard to get inside like a tea pot, you can fill it with hot water with some dish washing soap and let it sit for a while, use a soft bottle brush to clean the inside and be sure to get a brush that is small enough to get inside the spout, all the way through. Repeat this process several times to be sure to get anything out that could dissolve into your tea when you start to use it.