Restoring Silver Imperial Patina & Pattern - Done!

[siamackz]

I purchased a Silver Imperial Sheaffer recently. It is from the mid 1970s. I bought this pen at a discount to its market price because it was rather worn out. It had been over polished to the extent where the beautiful diamond pattern was not popping out, and the pen was dull without any patina. See pic below, this is how it looked when I received it:

 

See pic below for how I wanted this pen to look:

 

So, I messaged the kind and generous expert - Daniel K. He suggested that the black/darkness in the diamond cuts may be restored by either using (A) black enamel paint, or ( natural patina. He had heard of both techniques. I thought about it... The black enamel might bring out the diamond cut grooves, but what about the overall dulness of the pen? It needs some patina. So, I thought about a tip he suggested - place the pen in a closed container with a hard boiled egg, the sulphur fumes will oxidize the silver and form a patina! This sounded really cool, even just as a science experiment! So, I looked online for videos that explain the process. Surely enough I found a few.

 

Here is the method I used:

1. Boil an egg and let it cool.

2. Peel, and then smash it up

3. Place egg in a small container, Make a well in the centre, and place the pen standing up in the well (so that there is no egg touching the pen, but its surrounded by egg)

4. Shut container. In about 10 minutes you will be shocked to see the patina form.

 

Here is what my pen looked like after 20 minutes in the egg chamber (compare it to the 'before' pic):

 

Next, gently polish (using Sunshine cloth) so that the patina only stays in the diamond cut grooves. And voila:

Edited September 13, 2017 by siamackz

[pen lady]

Well done! It does look wonderful.

[eckiethump]

That is excellent information, that I had never been aware of before, I pride myself on my knowledge and expertise in cosmetic works on pens.

Thank you Daniel K. and OP, knowledge is only of use when it is shared.

[Sasha Royale]

Bless you ! It is a thing of beauty, resurrected from a ruined pen. Thank you for share it.

[eckiethump]

Basically this is the opposite from cleaning the sulphur oxide discolouration (UK spelling) from Silver.

Place aluminium baking foil in a bowl, add Baking powder ( don't know US equivalent) then very hot water. Blackness, silver sulphide leaves silver item and attaches to baking foil. Gently polish silver item, which has suffered no abrasion to the chased details and looks like new, not a suitable treatment generally for pens, where BHR parts are present.

[siamackz]

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone! We are lucky to have a community of experts like Daniel K., and non-experts too, that are so generous with their knowledge. This project has brought such a great deal of personal satisfaction to me

[Ron Z]

The problem with the aluminum/baking power method is that it leaves microscopic pits in the silver. Not recommended.

[JWil]

Nicely done!

[eckiethump]

The problem with the aluminum/baking power method is that it leaves microscopic pits in the silver. Not recommended.

This because it is removing the damaging silver sulphide, which causes the pitting. A decision has to be made on items, particularly where machine chased and abrasive polishing should never be countenanced.

[AnnieQ]

that is gorgeous!!!

[siamackz]

that is gorgeous!!!

Thank you!

[dicks390]

Hi-I am challenged re step #3. How do you make the well in the container with the pen standing up surrounded by the egg??

I purchased a Silver Imperial Sheaffer recently. It is from the mid 1970s. I bought this pen at a discount to its market price because it was rather worn out. It had been over polished to the extent where the beautiful diamond pattern was not popping out, and the pen was dull without any patina. See pic below, this is how it looked when I received it:

 

See pic below for how I wanted this pen to look:

 

So, I messaged the kind and generous expert - Daniel K. He suggested that the black/darkness in the diamond cuts may be restored by either using (A) black enamel paint, or ( natural patina. He had heard of both techniques. I thought about it... The black enamel might bring out the diamond cut grooves, but what about the overall dulness of the pen? It needs some patina. So, I thought about a tip he suggested - place the pen in a closed container with a hard boiled egg, the sulphur fumes will oxidize the silver and form a patina! This sounded really cool, even just as a science experiment! So, I looked online for videos that explain the process. Surely enough I found a few.

 

Here is the method I used:

1. Boil an egg and let it cool.

2. Peel, and then smash it up

3. Place egg in a small container, Make a well in the centre, and place the pen standing up in the well (so that there is no egg touching the pen, but its surrounded by egg)

4. Shut container. In about 10 minutes you will be shocked to see the patina form.

 

Here is what my pen looked like after 20 minutes in the egg chamber (compare it to the 'before' pic):

 

Next, gently polish (using Sunshine cloth) so that the patina only stays in the diamond cut grooves. And voila:

[PAKMAN]

Very nice result! Congrats!

[siamackz]

Hi-I am challenged re step #3. How do you make the well in the container with the pen standing up surrounded by the egg??

 

Hi, I placed the smashed egg at the sides of the container and then made the pen stand up just like in the pic below...

[dicks390]

Ok, thank you.