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Professional Advice
The Curator,
a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Royal Society
of British Sculptors, and an Honorary Brother of The Art Workers Guild,
has acted as honorary adviser to such organisations as The Silver
Trust for No. 10 Downing Street, The British Art Medal Society, Lichfield
Cathedral, York Minster, and The Samuel Pepys Trust.
Published works include:
- Treasures of the 20th Century, The Goldsmiths' Company
Click here to view
- Matthew Boulton and the Toymakers, The Goldsmiths' Company
The Silver Steward
advises institutions on how to clean, maintain and repair their silver
collections.
General Silver Cleaning Advice
- Recommend Goddards Silver Dip and Goddards Silver Foam for
items that are in use regularly.
- Always wear rubber gloves while working with dip.
- Pour dip into a large clean plastic bowl.
- Carefully examine the item to be dipped to check for any hollow
spaces, as dip will penetrate everywhere and if any residue is
left behind this will cause problems later.
- Use a small sponge or cotton wool if necessary to gently rub
heavy tarnish. Cotton buds are useful for hard-to-reach areas.
- After dipping wash thoroughly in warm soapy water and rinse
in clean water, ensuring that all traces of dip are removed, then
use the silver foam and running water to finish.
- It is helpful to warm the item after cleaning to ensure thorough
drying. A hairdryer is useful for this.
- Do not dip items that are gilt or set with gems such as pearl,
turquoise or emerald. Ensure that steel knife blades are kept
out of the dip. Use silver foam alone for this type of item.
- Salt cellars and mustard pots should always be emptied straightaway
as salt and mustard residues will burn into silver.
- Candle wax should be removed with boiling water. Never try
to scrape the wax away with any kind of tool. It is always helpful
to use beeswax candles such as those supplied by Price's as the
wax from these dissolves easily.
- For display items that are going into showcases use plate powder
and brushes. The powder is mixed with methylated spirits and ammonia
and applied with cotton wool. This mixture dissolves sponges.
It is left to dry on the surface and then buffed with a soft cloth.
If the surface is chased or engraved, a soft natural bristle brush
is used. Do not use brushes with artificial bristles such as toothbrushes.
The item is then rinsed and dried as above.
- If a natural bristle brush is used you will find that after
a couple of uses the polishing mixture that is left on the bristles
will enable you to use the brush by itself on patterned work.
This is handy when in a hurry.
- Goddards blue silver cloths are good for giving a 'quick lift'
to an item that is looking a bit 'tired'.
- If an item is going to be stored for any time it is best to
wrap it in acid free tissue first, even if it is kept in a Tarnpruf
bag. Never wrap an item directly in bubble wrap.
- For general handling wear Fine Touch powder free textured latex
gloves. Do not use the powdered type as these become sticky if
wet. Cotton gloves are also useful, though it is a matter of personal
preference.
To contact the Silver Steward for advice go through The
Curator.
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