Wayne & Mary asked:
> We have a number of tarnished silver and silver plated
> artifacts in our museum.  We would like to clean them up
> for a better appearance.  What are the best ways to do this
> without putting wear on the artifacts?  Is there anything
> that we can do to prevent future tarnishing?
>
> Thanks for any help you can give us.
>
> Wayne Haegele
> President, Kewaunee County Historical Society.
>
There are some proprietary materials available but essentially they work
as follows.
Place the silver object in an old aluminium saucepan full of warm water
containing a good pinch of baking soda.If you have not got such a
saucepan then a wad of aluminium foil in the bottom of a stainless steel
one works just as well.
An electrochemical reaction converts the bulk of the tarnish back to
silver again rather than removing it as would happen with any type of
abrasive cleaner.
Preventing further tarnishing is less easy. There are materials that can
be applied to the silver object which coat the silver and prevent the
air with any corrosive material getting to it.
I have used the cleaning process very successfully with some very
delicate objects without problems, however I cannot offer any
guarantees.

Peter Millward
Manager, Education & Visitor Services
Melbourne Museum
PO Box 666E,   Melbourne,   VIC  3000
ph 61 3 9651 8162      fax 61 3 9651 6378
mobile 61 418 326 667
email [log in to unmask]