older or newer?

[greenacres]

This was a gift from a very wealthy friend. It was tarnished so I cleaned it with a natural recipe of baking soda, boiling water and tin foil. It didn't work as as well as I thought. I guess you have to soak it better. She is quite usual to say the least. It was probably my birthday and she as redecorating with antiques, so I tend to think she took from her house instead of shopping. That would be something she would do. She had a famous decorater from New York who used to suck her dry. She didn't like shopping and this guy would bring everything with him. I'm not sure if this is one of those pieces. Do you even think it's old?

[mart]

Instead of baking soda,,use plain old fashioned Tide laundry powder (About 2 cups for a sink full or more) and yes it has to be submerged and soaked several hours or even overnight !!When you line the wash basin wioth the foil make sure the shiny side is up !! I have used this to clean a lot of silver for my daughters wedding !! Might take a gentle scrubbing with terry cloth and the soaking water to clean it all off then rinse and dry !!

[greenacres]

I should have let it sit longer. What about the bottom felt? I didn't want that get that wet. I thought it would ruin it.

[mart]

Didn`t know it had felt !! In that case try a bucket and turn it upside down and don`t put enough water to touch the felt,, just almost to it !!

[greenacres]

I did get the bottom a little wet and it dried fine. That was by accident., lol My allergies feeling stupid! The pollen is killing me.

[KevinM]

I've used a full box of baking soda with about a gallon and a half of boiling water in a large aluminum pan from the dollar store  and then covered the item in aluminum foil a couple of times and it worked in about ten minutes for a large very tarnished tray.

I even placed another tray in right away after the first one and that worked. They were both very tarnished and it required fresh aluminum foil for the second tray. I guess yours must have been very tarnished but I like the way it looks now.

I usually go to Michaels and get a sheet of self sticking felt for 97 cents to replace old felt, it just makes things easier sometimes.

[greenacres]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it again tomorrow. I should do it more often,

[KC]

The problem with this method is that it takes the "character" away from the recessed places!!!  Elbow grease is the only way to make these truly look their best.

Are you sure it is silver?  Remove the felt and see if it is marked.  Felt is easy to replace and won't devalue the piece.