I thought this might be of interest to everyone who has the heavy task of cleaning silver and silver plate, I’ve taken this extract from an out of print book named The Servants guide and family manual dated 1831. It shows how it used to be and what a tedious job it must have been to clean the family silver, plus all the various concoctions they used, would not go down well today. Here it is:
The items mainly used for cleaning silver are prepared hartshorn, or chalk, tully powder, and quicksilver. Rouge is also often used by silversmiths.
Quicksilver is not recommended for plate, it gives a fast polish, but soon tarnishes, it can also cause the silver to become brittle and easily broken. Quicksilver is usually mixed with whitenmg or hartshorn powder. Rubbed with the latter and a little turpentine, quicksilver becomes ” killed.” It’s also killed by mixing with zinc, as in the following receipt:
Melt an ounce of zinc in an iron ladle, add two ounces of quicksilver ; turn the mixture out on paper, pound it very fine, mix it with two pounds of quality whitening carefully dried and sifted.
Another method is to boil four ounces of hartshorn balls in a gallon of water. While on the fire, put as much plate (well cleaned from grease or dirt) into it as the vessel will hold ; after it has boiled a short time, take out the articles, drain them over the saucepan, dry them before the fire., and rub them bright with leather. Clean linen rags boiled in the above, when dry, give a beautiful polish to the plate merely by rubbing it with them. Indeed, few articles need be boiled as above unless they are in constant use, as forks, spoons, &c.
These rags are likewise very serviceable for cleaning brass locks, finger-plates of doors, &c.
For plate-cleaning, especially for small articles, no brush will produce so fine a polish as the hand. Prepared chalk, or fine whitening in larger balls than the common sort, mixed into a thin paste with spirits of wine, will perfectly recover the silver if tarnished. Brushes should be of different hardness, those for plain surfaces being soft, and others for chased or frosted work, as edges, crests, prongs of forks, &c. should be harder; so as to prevent any of the powder remaining in the fine work. Dry wash-leather is the best for finishing.
* Golden articles are likewise much injured from contact with quicksilver and mercurial preparations. Instances have been known ol gold rings bursting on the fingers of persons using mercury or handling quicksilver, A short time since we read in the Ennis newspaper of a genuine sovereign having been dipped in quicksilver and partly silvered over; the silver was afterwards removed by aquafortis, but the sovereign on being pressed with the finger and thumb obliquely against a table, snapped in tH,o like a piece of rotten stick.
Plated articles, as might be expected, are more troublesome to keep clean than those which are of silver. Spirits of wine is best calculated for them; but, in no case, whether plated on copper or steel should they be long left damp or dirty, the coating of silver being so thin as not to prevent their speedily becoming cankered or rusted.
The care of the plate is entrusted to the Butler, who is assisted in cleaning the several articles by the Under Butler, or Footman.The articles chiefly used for cleaning silver are prepared hartshorn, or prepared chalk, tully powder, and quicksilver. Rouge is likewise much used by silversmiths, but this often consists of one of the first mentioned articles merely coloured with rose-pink.Quicksilver is not recommended for plate. It gives a speedy polish, but the silver cleaned with powder in which it is contained, soon tarnishes. There is a more unpleasant consequence attendant on its use, for it has been known to render silver so brittle as to cause it to break when let fall.*When quicksilver is used, it is generally mixed with whitenmg or hartshorn powder. Rubbed with the latter and a little turpentine, quicksilver soon becomes ” killed.” It is likewise killed by mixing with zinc, as in the following receipt:Melt an ounce of zinc in an iron ladle, and put to it two ounces of quicksilver ; turn the mixture out on paper, pound it very fine, and then mix it with two pounds of the best wn’itening carefully dried and sifted.Another method is to boil four ounces of hartshorn balls in a gallon of water. While on the fire, put as much plate (well cleaned from grease or dirt) into it as the vessel will hold ; after it has boiled a short time, take out the articles, drain them over the saucepan, dry them before the fire., and rub them bright with leather. Clean linen rags boiled in the above, when dry, give a beautiful polish to the plate merely by rubbing it with them. Indeed, few articles need be boiled as above unless they are in constant use, as forks, spoons, &c.These rags are likewise very serviceable for cleaning brass locks, finger-plates of doors, &c.For plate-cleaning, especially for small articles, no brush will produce so fine a polish as the hand. Prepared chalk, or fine whitening in larger balls than the common sort, mixed into a thin paste with spirits of wine, will perfectly recover the silver if tarnished. Brushes should be of different hardness, those for plain surfaces being soft, and others for chased or frosted work, as edges, crests, prongs of forks, &c. should be harder; so as to prevent any of the powder remaining in the fine work. Dry wash-leather is the best for finishing.* Golden articles are likewise much injured from contact with quicksilver and mercurial preparations. Instances have been known ol gold rings bursting on the fingers of persons using mercury or handling quicksilver, A short time since we read in the Ennis newspaper of a genuine sovereign having been dipped in quicksilver and partly silvered over; the silver was afterwards removed by aquafortis, but the sovereign on being pressed with the finger and thumb obliquely against a table, snapped in tH,o like a piece of rotten stick.Plated articles, as might be expected, are more troublesome to keep clean than those which are of silver. Spirits of wine is best calculated for them; but, in no case, whether plated on copper or steel should they be long left damp or dirty, the coating of silver being so thin as not to prevent their speedily becoming cankered or rusted.’
Well who wanted to be a servant back in those days, must have been hell!!!! Have a look at some of the below for sale on eBay a lot quicker and all ready to go, no mixing of heavy chemicals.
