How to Clean Tarnished Antique Silver

Remove tarnish to restore antique silver pieces.

Tarnish appears when silver comes into contact with sulfur compounds from various materials, such as wool, rubber bands, food, felt and latex. Even if you don't touch the antique silver frequently, tarnish can appear because of the hydrogen sulfide in the air. It first looks yellow, then becomes darker with time, until it appears black. The sooner you remove the tarnish, the easier it comes off. Because silver is a soft metal, you have to use soft materials to clean it to prevent scratches. There are several different methods of cleaning antique silver that you can use.

Things You'll Need

• Water
• Dishwashing liquid
• Cotton cloths
• Liquid hand sanitizer
• Cotton balls
• Commercial silver cleaner
• 1 horsehair brush
• Silver dip

Instructions

Soapy Water

1. Wet the silver piece with water.

2. Lather the antique silver with a detergent that contains no phosphate or lemon fragrance.

3. Rinse the antique silver piece again to get rid of any soap residue.

4. Wipe the antique silver dry with a cotton cloth to prevent water spots from forming.

Hand Sanitizer

1. Apply a liquid hand sanitizer to the tarnished area on the antique silver. Use a hand-sanitizer product that contains no aloe or fragrance to minimize damage on the piece. This method causes minimal damage to the silver, but can only remove light tarnish.

2. Wipe the antique silver with a cotton ball in circular motions to remove the tarnish.

3. Wipe the cleaning material off the antique silver with a cotton cloth.

Commercial Silver Cleaner

1. Rinse the antique silver to remove any abrasive debris if the silver doesn't have any attachments made of porous materials, such as wood and felt. If your antique silver has a porous attachment, skip this step.

2. Apply a nonabrasive commercial silver cleaner to the tarnish with a back-and-forth motion. Choose a liquid cleaner that you wipe or wash off after cleaning rather than a more abrasive cleaner that you leave on the silver. If your antique silver piece has porous attachments, apply the cleaner with a cotton ball. Otherwise, use a damp cellulose sponge.

3. Brush the cleaner off the antique silver using a wet horsehair brush. For small crevices that you can't reach, use a wet toothpick.

4. Rinse the antique silver with warm water and wipe it dry with a piece of cotton cloth if it doesn't have any porous attachments. If it has porous attachments, skip this step.

Silver Dip

1. Immerse the tarnished area of the silver piece in silver dip. Use this method only if tarnish remains in the crevices of the antique silver piece or if you are cleaning silver cutlery that has come into contact with food items that contain sulfur. Such food items include mayonnaise, eggs, onions and peas.

2. Rinse the silver dip residue off the antique silver with water immediately after removing it from the dip. Silver dip contains corrosive acids and may damage the silver if you leave it on the piece for too long.

3. Polish the silver piece with a commercial silver cleaner to restore the color.

References

• "Society of American Silversmiths"; Silver Care; Jeffrey Herman; June 2010
• Sanda Lipton Antique Silver: Advice About Silver
• "Fiske and Freeman"; Caring for Antique Silver; John Fiske and Lisa Freeman