Help me make a 100-year-old look like a 20-year-old.
October 19, 2011 8:07 PM Subscribe
I bought this antique Art Nouveau jewelry casket from an Etsy vendor, and I'm thinking I'd like to reline it and restore the finish. I know I can handle making the new lining, but what do I do to restore the finish? Would I basically just paint it using a special kind of paint, or....?
You could have it (re)plated with silver. I think paint wouldn't be the right thing to use.
posted by thylacinthine at 8:15 PM on October 19, 2011
posted by thylacinthine at 8:15 PM on October 19, 2011
Not that you shouldn't do it if you want to for yourself, but replating that or doing much of anything to it except cleaning it would destroy whatever value it has.
posted by cmoj at 8:28 PM on October 19, 2011
posted by cmoj at 8:28 PM on October 19, 2011
Antiques Roadshow routinely upbraids people for removing patina.
posted by rhizome at 8:43 PM on October 19, 2011
posted by rhizome at 8:43 PM on October 19, 2011
What is (was) the finish currently? It's hard to tell from the photo, but it doesn't look like silver to me. Have you tried polishing a discreet area, maybe underneath, to see how it comes up?
As has already been pointed out, any restoration may make it worthless from a collector's point of view but, if you just want to make it look nicer to you, don't worry about it.
posted by dg at 9:04 PM on October 19, 2011
As has already been pointed out, any restoration may make it worthless from a collector's point of view but, if you just want to make it look nicer to you, don't worry about it.
posted by dg at 9:04 PM on October 19, 2011
Response by poster: How would I polish this item? Would I use some sort of product, and if so, what?
posted by orange swan at 5:23 AM on October 20, 2011
posted by orange swan at 5:23 AM on October 20, 2011
It looks like a treated metal to me, though it's really very hard to tell. I would be very cautious about cleaning and let go any idea of restoring, because it has a purposely variegated finish which you could easily strip away. If you do a Google Image search for "art nouveau jewelry casket" you can find many near-twins that will show you what it might look like stripped or recoated. It's not necessarily a good look. The finish on this one was most likely given some shading to begin with, as you see here, and it has aged beautifully. I would just clean it with a non-acid jewellery polishing cloth and leave it at that.
posted by Miko at 6:31 AM on October 20, 2011
posted by Miko at 6:31 AM on October 20, 2011
By cleaning I mean, like, taking the actual dust off. But, yes, with some very old or fragile pieces even that can damage it.
posted by cmoj at 8:33 AM on October 20, 2011
posted by cmoj at 8:33 AM on October 20, 2011
I would be wary of using even a polishing cloth. The chemicals imbued into the cloths, the ones that lift tarnish, also lift a lot of plated and treated finishes. I once ruined a supposedly solid silver hair barrette by cleaning it with a polishing cloth, exposing the base metal underneath.
If you want to try, I recommend going very slowly and testing on the underside first.
posted by Georgina at 9:23 AM on October 20, 2011
If you want to try, I recommend going very slowly and testing on the underside first.
posted by Georgina at 9:23 AM on October 20, 2011
Response by poster: Well, I took your advice and left the patina as it was, and just gave it a light cleaning with a jewelry polish cloth. Not much came off. Then I relined the casket in red velvet. Looks good! I'll post pictures eventually.
posted by orange swan at 10:05 AM on November 23, 2011
posted by orange swan at 10:05 AM on November 23, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by orange swan at 8:08 PM on October 19, 2011