Cross Body Cleaning?

[kaissa]

I do not have a photo but here goes the problem. A friend has a Cross ballpoint and pencil set. They are gold covered Century, definetly older than 10 years. They are matte in color and have several dark brown spots on them. Should I try to clean them myself? Any recommendations? Or play it safe and send them to Cross?

 

Regards,

[sriramoman]

I do not have a photo but here goes the problem. A friend has a Cross ballpoint and pencil set. They are gold covered Century, definetly older than 10 years. They are matte in color and have several dark brown spots on them. Should I try to clean them myself? Any recommendations? Or play it safe and send them to Cross?

 

Regards,

Just a thorough wipe with a clean cloth will make it shine! I too have a gold covered classic century, and it develops brown spots mainly due to humidity and salinity in atmosphere. I clean the pen with laptop-LCD cleaner and it sparkles great. After-shave lotion or nail polish remover may also help. But do not use abrasives or harsher chemicals!

[Chris]

I bought (quite cheaply) an old Century ballpoint in 10kt rolled gold that had some tarnish and deepish scratches but it polished up beautifully with a Cross polishing cloth. It is meant for silver and contains some jeweller's rouge, smells weird and is slightly abrasive, but worked. As I use this pen every day along with the equally 'lived in' pencil, they stay shiney and I don't fret over the accumulated wear and tear marks.