Restoring Thrift Store Silver

Thrift stores like Goodwill can be a treasure chest of goodies if one knows what to look for. Today's treasure is silver! That's right, some people don't know or don't care to keep their silver shiny. It tarnishes black and can look worthless or ruined to the uneducated eye so they donate it to thrift shops. Well if you have a bit of luck you can find these treasures and restore them to their glorious polished look.

Every Goodwill I've been in has an isle dedicated to metal objects. Most of them are crap but you can find lots of brass items (another instructible for another day), occasionally copper, and sometimes silver! It just takes some luck and a good eye.

Step 1 Identifying Silver

Silver is the brightest metal there is and when polished it reflects everything around it. However, silver at a thrift shop is always tarnished. Sometimes is is still silvery with darker areas and some rainbow colors on it. I've found that silver plate often is only partly tarnished and not really black. There is so little silver there to tarnish that it doesn't seem to cover the item. The darker the item the more likely I've found it to be silver or Quality silver plate.

Beware the Silver Plate

Most of the time when there is silver there, it is silver plate. This is a less valuable metal coated with silver. Almost always it is brass made in India or China and plated with the thinnest coating of silver possible. If you try to polish this you almost always will remove ALL the silver left on it and expose the brass beneath it. This is almost never worth your time or money, unless you want the brass. There are quality silver plate items but it can be chancy of how deep the silver is plated. If you see base metal leave it, as the silver is thin or that area is damaged. You could get it re-plated professionally but that’s going to cost you.

Quality Finds

Almost all good silver has a crafters mark on it. These are the name of the company that produced the item or the crafts-person who made the item. Cheap crap will likely have a made in China sticker on it. Luckily much of silver plate also has a sticker that will say silver plate.

If you see a stamp that says sterling you have just scored big time. Calmly walk to the register and don't let that treasure go! A sterling stamp means that the item is almost pure silver. I don't know what other countries require but the U.S. requires a sterling stamp on all sterling silver items made in the U.S.

Silver is non magnetic. Take a magnet with you on your search. Anything that the magnet sticks to is at best silver plated and at worst not silver at all.

WARNING

These instructions should only be used on non-antique items. If you think you have found an actual antique, talk to a professional before you mess around with your silver. You could make your find near worthless if you mess up the finish. All the items I buy I plan on using and not reselling or just sitting on a shelf so I don't care if they are devalued.