I have been given a silver coloured tray and wondered if I can find some more information about it. It belonged to the Grandmother of the person who gave it to me (who is 80), so we think it is possibly from about 1900.
He believes it is silver but we don’t know anything else about it, except that it was used with silver dinner set that included soup tureens etc. The marks are not normal silver marks as far as I can see.
It is tarnished quite badly. Should I simply clean it with soap and water then silver polish?
I’ve photographed it and the marks are quite clear.
With silverplate you should use a liquid polish as these are the least abrasive. (not wadding or a paste)
Even without knowing the marks, you can tell the item is silverplate straight away. The give away is the colour of the tarnish. Uncle Vic posted elsewhere about this…
The brassy colour might be tarnish, in which case you can polish it off. But it might also be the base metal showing through. In this case the silver can only be restored by re-plating.
