How to treat Silver

Antique Sterling Silver Care

Tips for Easy Living with your Silver

• You can cut the cleaning time of your silver by as much as 75 percent if you follow these simple suggestions:
  
  
• Use polishes containing tarnish preventive and jewelers' rouge. The preventive alone allows your cleaning to last 6 - 8 weeks; the rouge gives a brilliant showroom shine with minimal effort. (Polishes containing jewelers' rouges will be pink.)
  
  
• Use Hagerty Silver Dip for flatware - takes only seconds and all you do is dip, rinse, and dry. Vegetable and mayonnaise stains - gone.
  
  
• For your Sideboard, Coffee Table and other display silver, use Silver Polishing Gloves or Cloth during the weekly dusting. They contain cleaners and tarnish preventives so you really can go months without getting out the polish.
  
  
• Silver in cabinets and cases will stay sparkling for 6 - 8 months if you use camphor blocks or Hagerty Protection Strips. If cabinets are completely airtight you might get up to a year of tarnish-free silver.
  
  
• FOR HEAVILY TARNISHED SILVER: First you must wash the items in a strong detergent to degrease them. Polishes are all water-soluble and can't cut through grease. Next, line your sink (or bath tub for tea-trays) with aluminum foil. Throw in a handful of WASHING soda (not baking) and fill with hot water. Place your silver on the foil - each piece must have direct contact - and leave for 2 or 3 minutes. Silver should come out dull but clean.
  
  
• To restore the luster, apply some polish with a damp sponge or soft cloth (never paper towels - they'll scratch). Let polish dry. Wipe off with damp sponge, soft cloth or even under running water. Silver will be clear and gleaming - no elbow grease needed.
  
  
• Dishwashers are safe if you remember to use a liquid soap and avoid the heated drying cycle. Granular soap may pit the silver and excessive heat may burst the knife handles.