Baseball Trophy - UPDATED 6/4/17 To clean or not to clean

[ruth-gehrig]

Recently picked up this baseball trophy, measures 15 inches tall, and have two questions.....

To clean or not to clean? And if to clean any suggestions about how to go about it?

I used some silver polish on a smaller area on base as you can see in the second photo and it cleaned up nicely.

[vintagesportscollector]

Very nice trophy, Mike. I would clean it, and I have Carbona Precious Metal Wipes to be quite effective.

[bobfreedman]

I would clean it, I just finished cleaning this one myself

[khkco4bls]

Clean away...

[perezfan]

Agree.... clean it

Nice pickup!

[mjkm90]

clean it, but understand it's missing a fair bit of its silver, so don't expect it to look new all over. Its a great trophy by the way.

[ruth-gehrig]

Thanks guys! It seems that the concensus is to clean this thing up. And yes Mike the missing silver has me a bit concerned as to what the final product will look like.

[ruth-gehrig]

Just got done cleaning it and it turned out better than I expected. Thanks for the advice!

[perezfan]

Infinitely better.... nice work!

[tcornett]

Wow, that hardly looks like the same trophy, nice work!

[kdixon]

Looks great.

[ooo-ribay]

Great job! What does the trophy commemorate?

[WillowGrove]

Great job! Way to see the beauty through the dirt and grime.

[mjkm90]

Beautiful

[ruth-gehrig]

Thanks for the kind words guys. There were several areas of the trophy, most notably directly under the baseball on the base, that I didnt think would shine up very well because I thought the silver was missing.

As Mike pointed out there would be areas of missing silver so it wouldn't look new even if cleaned. Silver loss was actually minimal but enough to tell that it's still old. The end result is exactly the look I was after.

The trophy is for Ashtabula County League Sons of Italy #1169 Champions of 1931. Ashtabula county is located in Ohio.

[Scott Garner]

Terrific result!!

[sporteq]

Wow- amazing results! I have the same exact trophy I believe. Its made by Goldsmith Sporting Goods. I have a black base on mine.. dated 1931

[CamaroCPA]

Genuinely curious: would someone explain why cleaning the tarnish off this trophy not be considered that cardinal sin of removing the patina from any other antique, thereby reducing its value?! (It's beautiful by the way!) Thanks!

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by CamaroCPA

Genuinely curious: would someone explain why cleaning the tarnish off this trophy not be considered that cardinal sin of removing the patina from any other antique, thereby reducing its value?! (It's beautiful by the way!) Thanks!

All you ever hear on Antiques Roadshow is "don't clean, don't clean, don't clean"....except when it comes to silver. I have no idea why. Come to think of it, I think the experts are OK with cleaning brass, too.

[ruth-gehrig]

My latest trophy project. This one was a bit more challenging in the sense that I had to approach this one completely differently. Instead of being able to gently clean this one with silver cleaner like I did the first one, this was more of a science experiment. Perhaps the silver plating was too thin on this trophy but I couldn't even "gentle clean" without losing plating and luster. My other approach, God Bless the internet , involved aluminum foil, baking soda, salt, and near boiling water
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how...r-plated-items
The darkened areas that are still present in the after picture arent tarnish but rather missing silver plating.

[Leon]

Nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

[ruth-gehrig]

Thank you! I think these are fun because when they are so tarnished and dirty it's difficult to guess how much they will eventually clean up. Its pretty easy to do actually but if anyone is about to do one themselves and have any questions just hit me up.
Michael

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

Thank you! I think these are fun because when they are so tarnished and dirty it's difficult to guess how much they will eventually clean up. Its pretty easy to do actually but if anyone is about to do one themselves and have any questions just hit me up.
Michael

What did you use to clean it?....BTW nice pick up...

[ruth-gehrig]

Thanks Carlton. Its basically a soak method that I followed from here http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how...r-plated-items because I was losing silver plating with my previous method of using light elbow grease. Now it did take several soaks with all new material but it did work. Combination of near boiling water, several tablespoons of baking soda and a pinch of salt with trophy being in contact with a good size piece of aluminium foil. The website makes note to say that the boiling water may break weak contact points such as solder areas so thats something to be cautious about.

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

Thanks Carlton. Its basically a soak method that I followed from here http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how...r-plated-items because I was losing silver plating with my previous method of using light elbow grease. Now it did take several soaks with all new material but it did work. Combination of near boiling water, several tablespoons of baking soda and a pinch of salt with trophy being in contact with a good size piece of aluminium foil. The website makes note to say that the boiling water may break weak contact points such as solder areas so thats something to be cautious about.

I've heard that method causes a slight dullness...Long time ago I did that and I think it does...Just an FYI....probably something about it on the net...

[ruth-gehrig]

Originally Posted by CarltonHendricks

I've heard that method causes a slight dullness...Long time ago I did that and I think it does...Just an FYI....probably something about it on the net...

Not that I notice on this piece but not saying it doesn't happen. I've read that salt is a bit harsh on silver plating so perhaps that what it is related to.