Polishing Silver! It's Not Just For Butlers Anymore!

On my St Pat's table, I debuted my new silver!

I just love this silver set. I was out, innocently minding my own business, with my sister. I took her to this new antique store that I had found. We were walking around looking at everything and then I saw it! It was right by the register. I didn't take it with me. I just went home and obsessed about it.

I went back about a week later determined to get it. I even got to the store 20 minutes before they opened. I went to the little table by the register and it was gone! Table and all! Gone! I sadly walked around the store not really interested in anything. The very nice gentleman behind the counter asked me what was wrong. I pouted that the silver set that was RIGHT THERE was now GONE!

I can be quite the drama queen sometimes.

He looked at me and smiled. How dare he smile! He told me that they had moved it the day before to the other room that I had not pouted through yet. WHAT?! It was still there! So $100.00 later and it was mine!

Anyways....

....what has this got to do with polishing silver? Well, the first thing that I did with it was polish it. It was shiny and didn't look tarnished, but it's like getting your hair done. You have to come home and play with it. I checked out a couple of different sites on how to do it since I was clueless. Here is the easiest way that I found.

I heard that Wright's is the best silver polish. So I got a bottle of it. I found it at the grocery store. I also used this suede brush edge to get inbetween the tines of the forks. I thought the rubber bristles would get to make it easier, but they really weren't that bad. For the most part though, I just used a regular old household sponge.

I filled the sink with the hottest tap water I could get. Even the little piggies were curious as to what I was doing!

I soaked the silver for about 10 minutes. Warming the silver like this helps to release the tarnish. While it was soaking, I laid out a kitchen towel for them. When they were done soaking, I rubbed some silver polish onto them with the sponge. I let them sit with the polish on for another 10 minutes.

I did about 20 pieces at a time.

After I had let them set with the silver polish on, I rinsed them under hot tap water and dried them with a shammy cloth.

What do you think?! The one on the right is before and the left is after polishing. You could tell more of a difference in person. Before polishing they had a goldish cast to them. They also looked milky white kinda.

Now, they are all sparkly and shiny. On the first batch, halfway through, I thought maybe I was wasting my time or doing it wrong. I kept with it though and it really made a difference.

When I use it, I just handwash it in mild soap, towel dry and stored in the box.

BTW, the papers in the bottom of the box? Those are the original certificate for the set and a sheet that lists what comes with the set.

For now, I am off to buy more silver I can polish! It was actually enjoyable. There is a tea set I have had my eye on....

Oh, one more thing! You will want to wear gloves cause the tarnish will be all over your hands! That does not come off so easily....

Posted at Toot Your Horn Tuesday

P.S. Sorry Yvonne! The silver is by Holmes & Edward and is a sterling inlaid set. It means that there is an extra block of sterling on the handles and bowls of the pieces. This is to help prevent wear. I did a little research on the piece and found out the pattern is called "Danish Princess" and is from 1938. According to the pricing on Ebay, I got quite a deal on this entire set.