UBB.threads Forums General Interest Restoration, Conservation, and Maintenance Forum gilting??

I am curious...

Does gilting over a baser metal evaporate over time?

What is the safest way to clean gilting or should it simply be left alone?

I have a silver medal that is gilted but shows signs of darkening and white powdering. Is this typical?

Rod

Do not use metal polish!!!!Many nice pieces have been damaged in an attempt to "Shine" them up.Take your time and do the research.There are many people here who can help.Perhaps posting a picture of the item would help provide some suggestions.Be patient and dig back through the older posts.You will find many knowledgeable people here who can provide valueable help.Good Luck Geoff.

best thing is sudsy ammonia and a toothbrush.
I even use an electric tooth brush.

Rod, the darkening and white powder sound like forms of oxidation - not at all uncommon on old medals. Whatever you do, don't use anything abrasive or caustic to clean it with. The sudsy ammonia or plain old soap and water should work fine with a soft brush. Some find the darkening (but not the powder) appealing, others do not. It's matter of choice. If you decide to clean it and there is a ribbon, it should be removed or protected, unless you want to clean it also. However, some cleaning procedures and materials can damage the ribbon.

Let me restate the situation:

Please no recriminations.

I have a really neat imperial medal (almost 100 years old) that has or rather had a gold gilt over silver.

Weeellll ...... the gold gilt hardyly peeked through a really dark almost black finish with white areas.

Soooooo I lightly and I mean light brushed with a soft tooth brush and then softly and I do mean softly wiped with a jewelers polishing cloth.

Soooooo now I have a silver finish with some small areas of gold glit.

I think the gilt had been long gone leaving a dark finish with some white spots that was oxide of the silver. Does gold gilt turn really dark with time?

Now what would you do? Leave well enough alone or attempt to carefully touch up the gilt just to give the presence of some to play down the silver areas. (Maybe just a touch of gold in the here and there.) If so, what product would you suggest?

There I have bared my soul!!

Help!!!!

Rod

I keep answering my own questions:

Check out Plaid Liquid Gold or Plaid Treasure Gold!!!

GREAT stuff

Rod

Always wondered how the gold plate on cars would work.Someone may have to find a car dealer to try it.

Nuts!!!

Let me beat a dead horse...

Does gilt over silver deteriorate over time and turn dark.... even black??? Even turns to a finish that easily "brushes off" ???

If so.... what would the restorer do to establish the gold finish???

Hope someone in the know responds...


Rod

Well let me tell you what little I think I know:

on the imperial pieces heat is added to the painting which makes the product solid GLASS.

This is opposed to a painted surface....


Sooooo having exposed my ignorance,,, do we have any contrary opinions for the 1,000 reich zinc advocates?????


ha ha

Rod

Rod, Gold does not evaporate or turn black with age. It can be worn off. And thin and especially very thin gold plating is permeable - and moisture and the effects of the atmosphere can penetrate to the base metal and cause corrosion underneath the plating. Causing it to separate (be removed) in addition to any mechanical abrasion which could remove the finish. And the corrosion by products can be white or black or green or whatever depending on what the base metal does in the atmosphere (w/o plating to protect it). Jewelers polishing cloths are abrasive and will remove metal - which includes any plating even if only in small amounts. With very thin plating base metal can easily be exposed. Heat does not make paint �glass�. The Germans had a process called Brennlak, which had finely divided metallic particles in a carrier, which when heated produced what was essentially a baked enamel. To obtain a �glass� finish you have to have silica, with typically a relatively thick coating, which is fused to the metal base. Also the reference to zinc is not clear. Unless it�s referring to a zinc base metal which has a white colored oxide. FP

PS: Gold plating is seen with some automobile fittings. The gold of course being on top of nickel plating with the gold providing different coloration to the component (and not to be confused with gold colored anodizing which is an entirely different matter).

Fred,

That was very helpful and interesting.

Thank you,

Rod

Rod, not having seen the item in question, could the gilting you see be the remains of a clear coat applied for protection? Old varnish can tone to a gold appearance and end up remaining only in the protected recesses of the medal, badge or pin.

--dj--Joe

Derjager...

I am not sure... All I can say is my item still has a gold tone that "flashes" silver if that makes any sense.

I swear I am frustrated with this gilt silver and the next imperial piece I buy will be GOLD!! Gee I sound ****y for a poor guy!!! ha ha

Fred (above) gave the best explanation of gilt silver and enamel that I have read.

Rod

Honest guys I used a very acceptable word above!!!!! Did not notice the **** until today!!

Rod

I never cease to amaze myself in finding how dumb I really am!!

I have just found out the item in question that I was cleaning is NOT gilt silver... it is plain ole silver.

So the "cleaning" I did merely did its job to reveal the silver. I think the "hints" of gold are just remaining tarnish.

Sorry to run you guys around the block on a wild goose chase, but there were some really interesting comments.

Sorry and thanks,

Rod

Gold plated car? Hmmm, there was a plating place here that gold plated a Cadillac for Muhammed Ali.
Saw the newspaper article on the wall there.

I have had the same problems with what you are saying. For me what works best is a little semi-chrome that is dry on a clean cotton cloth.
The thing is over time don't add more semi-chrome or wash the cloth.
It always seems to add that touch I am looking for and it works all the time.
Try it, you'll like it.
Keep in mind silver tarnishes a lot in a short period of time. Never use an abrasive polish on silver, cloth is best.

My 2 cents worth
Another product you can try on silver is FLITZ, It comes with jewlery i buy the misses. I use a Qtip and it pulles off the tarnish in no time and seems to be less abrasive than Simichrome, to slow the tarnishing try some Ren wax. If the silver has some of the original clear coat still present i would only use some sudsy amonia and leave it at that.
Flitz seems to be less harmful to polished blades unlike Simichrome that is known to remove the crossgrain. I'm sure Flitz would remove some of the grain (it is a polish) but it's not as abrasive. What ever product i use i just don't rub it, I simply apply it to coat the blade and wipe it off with a soft cloth, only when their is a hazy film will i use any pressure (following the grain if it's a polished blade)to remove the remaning film, then simply ren wax it to protect the metal like mentioned in many other posts. Seems to work best.

MrFabulous i seen that same article on a wall about Ali's car, can't remember where it was though was that Plymouth plating.