bbc-Antiques, you are right, I did some Googleing and found that aluminum foil and baking soda is the best way to remove the “tarnish” off of silver.
Actually, it doesn’t remove the “tarnish” (silver sulfide), ….. it removes the
sulfide and leaves the silver intact.
In other words, it reverses the chemical reaction that created the “tarnish”, to wit"
Hydrogen sulfide gas in the air + silver =
tarnish (silver sulfide)
Baking soda + Aluminum foil + tarnish =
silverIf you “scrub” the tarnish off the silver then you are “scrubbing” off part of the silver.
So, ..... "
restore" your tarnished silver items , ........ don't be polishing them.