Restoring Finish on Vintage Jewelry

[Luann Udell]

I repaired & sold vintage jewelry for awhile, & was told by those more expert than I there was no way to refinish a piece that had lost its plating.  I think anything heavy-duty enough to take off the rest of the plating might harm the stones and/or any soldering/repairs that may have done to the piece, too.

This is what I was told, don't know it to be cold hard fact.  :^)
hth,
Luann

[SkyeSearcher]

Thank you for your replies.  I'm not iready to give up.  I have found so many pieces that were beautiful with the metal intact and I feel they deseve to have a second chance.  

With that said, can anyone recommend some type  of paint or coating that would work? Would it work if I used an enamel?

[Russ Nobbs]

Rio Grande in Alubquerque (and several other gold smith suppliers) carries an electroplating pen and solutions to plate a veriety of finishes.

It's intended to for plating small portions of the surface on a new item but it could be used for your purpose.

Most costume jewelry is brass, steel,  or copper clad steel. It is typically plated with nickel followed by gold or other platings.  Your results with a plating pen will vary a lot depending on the underlaying material and  how much of the finish is worn off.  As others have said, costume jewelry is not intended to last forever. Replating may be too expensive to recover your investment in equipment, solutions and time. But you might have a lot of fun with the plater!

[Polly]

The transparent Color Magic is great on glass and crystal.  So if you need to replace a colored rhinestone, but can't find the right color in that size, I think the Color Magic would work very well.  You can mix the colors together, too, for the exact shade you need.

However, the opaque and pearlescent colors look more like enamel than metal.  They make nice additions to metal color, but probably wouldn't work to replace a color of metal.
It might be worth trying to mix a few of the opaque and translucent colors together, to see if you could get the ideal color of metal.  But I don't think the finish would be quite right.
There is a bright gold, a snow white, a white pearl, and an iridescent frost that might be worth trying.  They're are about $ 5.00 per bottle, so it wouldn't be too bad an investment for a try.

--Polly

[SkyeSearcher]

I have several nice pieces that I can easily replace the stone but, if the finish is too worn it is still not sellable. In most cases it is basic silvertone and goldtone on pot metal.

The basic questions:  Is there a product to refinish vintage jewelry metal, and what should I use to take the rest of the finish off before refinishing?

[Polly]

I think Luann is right.

Plated jewelry, no matter how nice it is when new, is just not designed to last forever.

--Polly

[Polly]

Perhaps try some of the faux metal finishes at a good-quality crafts store.
Or genuine metal-leaf?  Metal-leaf is kind of like plating (but not cheap!!)

A long time ago, I had an expensive silver polish that claimed to -- and appeared to -- deposit a fine layer of silver to the surface of what you polished.  But I can't remember the brand name, and haven't seen it for about a decade.  Any one know of one?  
This is actually something I've wanted for a while... I have a badly worn silver-plated baby cup at home, that I REALLY want to use that stuff on....

--Polly

[SkyeSearcher]

Russ, I agree with you that the expense would be too much on a lot of the repair pieces I come across.  Would only be cost affective if the pieces were very high end which are coming out a lot and is important to restore to it's original to keep the value where it should be.  

For the lower end stuff that is prolific would your Color Magic work?

[SkyeSearcher]

Thank you all for your advice.  Polly I believe I will try your suggestion. Enameld vintage jewelry is in demand.

It is wonderful for me to have this venue to ask questions.  Although I have been repairing jewelry for quite a while unitil now I have had no one to talk to about it.

[wonderwoman]

Hi I was just looking for some answers and came accross your posts, and I have at least one answer...

Quote

silver polish that claimed to -- and appeared to -- deposit a fine layer of silver to the surface of what you polished.

it is called Silverplater or Silversmith, you can buy it from caswellcanada.ca.

As for fixing old jewellery - I am about to replate some old jewellery with a silver plug n plate kit, I will let you know how it works out after I play around a bit.

I'm new to this forum and I'd just like to say way to go!!! What a wonderful site keep up the great work I'm sure I'll be posting often

Take care
Elizabeth

[marym]

Thanks Elizabeth!  And welcome to our board.

-Mary

[Polly]

Hey -- that "Silversmith - Silverplate In A Bottle" does look about like the product I remember.  It's expensive, but I supposed that any kind of silver polish that actually contains silver to deposit on the surface, would be expensive.

For those reading ... I would only recommend a silver polish "plate" like this for items that don't actually get used or worn, but rather are just ornamental or mementos (like a worn-off silver-plated baby cup when all the babies are grown).

--Polly

[rowdypuppyhouse]

I finally found one that works!  There is a product on ebay that is amazing.  Like nothing I have tried.  It seems to blend into ANY tone and you don't need to remove the old finish. It is really unusual.  I tried everything else until I found this.  Now I use it just for touchups, or even for entire pieces.  It brings them back to life.  The same seller also has it in silver tone and a kit with both.  The item number on the gold tone is 390293465108  You should try it!

[Polly]

Ok, the gold tone stuff on Ebay does look interesting. According to the pictures and description, it should work quite well to touch up old gold-tone costume jewelry and scratched foil-back rhinestones.  I didn't look at the silver tone yet. Here is what the gold tone says:
"It is a mixture of 7 different colors of ultra fine gold leaf and mica metallic powders to most closely resemble the actual color of most gold foil backings and settings." ... "The kit consists of about 1/8th ounce of the powder and 1/4 ounce of clear gloss mixing medium made specially for the powder.  You only need a tiny tiny pinch of the powder and a tiny dollup of the medium."
I'm betting a nice fine-tip paintbrush would be useful too -- the kind from an art store, rather than the kind I usually find in the craft aisle. (I hate it when bristles fall out into the jewelry I'm working on.)

[rowdypuppyhouse]

.... Duplicate post removed by admin .....

One post about your product sold on ebay is helpful, a second post in the same thread is spam.