Caring For Your Collectible And Antique Metals

Whether you have one or one hundred collectible or antique metal pieces you want to preserve them as best you can. Too often a good intention lands ups destroying the value of the antique. That’s why it’s so important to know how to care for your collectible and antique metals.

Not only do you want to enjoy your beautiful metal pieces you want to preserve them for future generations. And quite often the value of these pieces appreciates a great deal over time. The most important thing you can do for these metals is to understand how to care for them without causing damage to their finishes.

Contrary to what many believe metal pieces are actually quite fragile. When it comes to cleaning and caring for them in many ways they are more delicate than the finest bone china. Of course most of them don’t break quite as easily but they certainly can be ruined easier.

Brass is a very common metal for home décor pieces as well as fixtures, and hardware. Avoid harsh cleaners such as lemon, vinegar, ammonia, and glass cleaners that have ammonia in them.

Clear lacquer can be applied to prevent tarnishing but the problem is over time it yellows and begins to chip off and it’s a bit of a chore to remove all the lacquer without damaging the brass. Paste was will also slow down the tarnishing.

But antique brass really should not be polished. The patina, which is the tarnish, is what gives it both its value and its beauty. So let nature take it’s course and let the tarnish build.

Bronze has been used for sculptures, lamps, and fixtures for a very long time. It’s a beautiful metal that requires no special care other than dusting. Never remove the patina from bronze or you will destroy its value. Bronze ages wonderfully with the metal developing deep rich color tones. This is a leave as is metal!

Cast Iron is often used for cookware, garden ornaments, and some home décor. It is also popular with fireplace accessories. Cast iron rusts easily. Any little bit of moisture and it will start to rust so make sure its kept dry. You can apply oil or wax to prevent the rusting.

Copper is used for home décor and garden décor, as well as cookware. If you leave your garden décor alone it will develop a green patina that looks very nice. Home décor looks great with the dark tones the patina produces.

Cookware is often cleaned and if you wish to clean your other items this home made recipe also works. It’s cheap, easy, and effective. Apply fresh lemon to the copper then sprinkle with salt and gently rub. In minutes your copper will be shiny again.

Gilding on antiques is a thin application of gold that is used to accent furniture and decorative pieces. Gold doesn’t tarnish but it can be damaged and it can get discolored from water. All you need to do is dust your gilt pieces and wipe with a damp cloth if needed.

Pewter is a hardy metal used for home décor pieces and it is also very popular for beer steins as well as other drinkware. The older pewter was quite soft as it was a mixture of lead and tin. Newer pewter is harder as it does not contain lead.

Pewter is easy to maintain. It doesn’t polish up so there’s no need to polish. You can wash it with warm water and soap, and dust when necessary.

Sterling silver and silver plate where both popular for serving pieces, flatware, and jewelry. Silver’s rather different than some of the other metals because the more you use it the less polishing it needs.

You can polish silver with a polishing cloth. You can also use commercial silver cleaners. Careful with the harsher cleaners on silver plate which may be worn already. Never leave your silver sitting in a product like TarnX Silver. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully.

Tin was popular in decorative pieces and in kitchenware. Tarnish actually protects the tin so its best to leave in place. Older tin has a gray color to it and you cannot polish it away. Remember moisture will cause tin to rust.

There are commercial cleaners available for almost all metal types. You should always follow the directions exactly to ensure you do not damage your metals, and never use a cleaner that is not designed for your metal as it may cause damage.

A polishing cloth works well on all metals that will shine up. Some metal types do not shine up but it still will remove spots and marks that may have accumulated on the piece.

Collectible and antique metals are a great find! It gets more and more difficult to find pieces of the quality and uniqueness of pieces produced in past eras. So be sure to properly care for your metals so that they can be enjoyed by future generations as well!

Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.