Jon,

As a conservator with many years experience I always caution people
about using any commercial products on art, antiques, or heirloom
objects. Commercial products are made to work quickly and thus almost
always have chemicals and compounds that are aggressive and not
condusive to the long-term preservation of the sort of objects and
artifacts that we work with everyday. Not to mention the fact that the
manufactuers often change formulation and do not completely reveal
their ingrediants, especially if they are non-hazardous and propriety
formulations. Yes, as a conservator I do use some commercial products
on occaision, but only in situations where their use can safely be
incorporated into the treatment.

Never Dull metal polish is composed of a cotton wadding wetted with
mineral spirits with a mixture of oleaic and steric fatty acids with
abraives suspended within the wadding. Analysis of the abrasives by
colleagues has shown that the abrasives are a combination of
mineralogical particles (alumina, kaolin, hematite, fledspar) of
heterogenous sizes and morphologies.

This essentially means that this product should NOT be used on silver.
Stearic and Oleaic fatty acids are consitueints of organic soaps that
cause copper alloys to corrode (almost all silver contains a
proportion of copper - sterling is 92.7% silver and the remaining 7.3%
being copper in the alloy). In terms of abrasives any particles that
are harder than the media (silver) or that are larger is size than
about 0.05 microns, or that has a crystalline form with more exposed
edges, can all "refinish" historic silver surfaces.

A conservation scientist colleague told me a very simple test in all
of this. Take a brand new sheet of highly smooth and finished
plexiglass. Use your polish on it. If the polish hazes, scratches, or
in any other way creates a visible difference in the plexiglass when
viewed in all angles of lights and reflectance, then it WILL harm
silver and soft metals.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, California, USA


On 11/1/05, Jon Austin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Fellow Listers and Collections Managers:
>
> Having seen a recent reference to Bruce MacLeisch's The Care of Antiques and
> Historical Collections (Nashville: AASLH Press, 1985), I would suggest
> reading Barbara Appelbaum's Guide to the Environmental Protection of
> Collections (Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1991), which I've found to be
> equally helpful for small institutions.  As a former student, I refer to it
> often.  For silver, Appelbaum recommends using a commercial liquid or paste
> cleaning polish followed by careful rinsing.  Chemical "dips" such as Tarnex
> are too aggressive, and as we've seen from David Harvey, the magnesium pan
> and powdered laundry detergent, can lead to surface damage.  At one time,
> the conservation staff at the Cooperstown Graduate Program recommended the
> use of a product called Never Dull, which is a chemical impregnated in
> cotton wadding.  I've used the latter for twenty years with success and have
> seen no apparent harm.
>
> Jon
>
> Jon N. Austin, Director
> Museum of Funeral Customs
> 1440 Monument Avenue
> Springfield, Illinois   62702
> www.funeralmuseum.org
>
> The Museum opened in April 2001 and is operated by the Illinois Funeral
> Service Foundation, a 501 c 3 educational organization, and the Illinois
> Funeral Directors Association, a professional membership organization.
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