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Author Topic: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?  (Read 5010 times)

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Offline Baked_Beans

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2010, 07:20:31 AM »
I just wanted to give an update on the cleaning of this weight. I managed to get hold of a one litre bottle of Rapid Fixer or 'Hypo' from a traditional photograhpic shop in Bristol. It's not that easy to get hold of, these days , as many high street photographic shops do not stock 'chemistry' as it is known in the trade. The Hypo is made by Fotospeed and is called 'Fotospeed FX20 Rapid Fixer' . It cost me just under £10 for a 1 litre bottle (not cheap !). It used to be available in much smaller bottles(pre-digital age) but not any more. see www.fotospeed.com.

The fixer is in concentrated form and for developing photos it recommends a 1 to 4 dilution with water. I used it undiluted/neat after experimenting with it on a tarnished silver bangle . It worked very well on the bangle dipping a kitchen paper towl into the hypo. But it needed a lot of rubbing and a normal abrasive silver cleaner would be better for solid silver objects.

So I then went on to the paperweight and it worked very well , removing much of the surface tarnish . The result was that much of the grubby look has gone and it's possible to see much more of the surface iridescence. Well worth doing. The hypo does smell a bit but after 24 hours the smell goes ! This is not the case if it soaks in to wood or carpets and can last for a very,very long time !  

I've added a photo of the paperweight and it doesn't look different at all !! But I can assure you that it has really improved it looking close up.

Next to the paperweight is a silver leaf decorated vase (origin unknown) . This has also been cleaned with hypo and the result was really significant ...far more shinny !

Pesonally I would really recommend this as a cleaner for silver leaf on glass or if you have a piece of silver-mounted glass and you need to clean the silver which surrounds it  ! :thup: Thanks again Ross !

  

 
Mike

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Offline ahremck

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #11 on: September 19, 2010, 12:10:47 PM »
Glad you are happy with the result.  If you reckon hypo smells don't try it with 880 ammonia - it really clears tthe sinuses and in a closed space can be a problem.  By the way I realised the last time I taught Science was 1985 - the memory is not fading as fast as I thought it might be!! ;D

Ross
I bamle all snileplg eorrrs on the Cpomuter Kyes.  They confuse my fingers !!!

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Offline Baked_Beans

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #12 on: September 19, 2010, 09:32:35 PM »
I remember sniffing a bottle of ammonia in a chemistry lesson in my school days and this was the result ! ---->  :cry:

I think it is difficult getting hold of concentrated ammonia over here in the UK . A 9.5% solution is about it I think . Cheers, Mike.
Mike

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Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #13 on: September 20, 2010, 11:58:48 AM »
I find a tiny and gentle wipe with proprietary liquid silver polish on a bit of soft tissue does the job very well.
 :wsh:
Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

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Offline Lustrousstone

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #14 on: September 20, 2010, 01:09:52 PM »
Quote
They of course will not polish the silver nor will they eat the silver away - only the sulphide will be dissolved.


Erm detarnishing silver will eat the silver away in the sense that the top layer of silver has already been converted to silver sulphide, which is then dissolved by the hypo

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Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #15 on: September 20, 2010, 01:22:54 PM »
Absolutely correct, Christine.

There is no way of cleaning tarnish from silver without affecting the quantity of metal - the tarnish is what's eating it up.

So, physical chemistry folk, is it best to clean it early? or wait until it's completely black?
It there any sort of rate of tarnish production which is affected by the presence or absence of tarnish already there?
Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

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Offline ahremck

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #16 on: September 20, 2010, 02:23:02 PM »
The only ways I could imagine to stop tarnish are (a) coat it with a clear 'varnish' - akin to what is done to most cheap silver anyway or (b) use a scavenger metal that will tarnish in preference to the silver - I have no idea how you could do that but theoretically it will work.

Ross
I bamle all snileplg eorrrs on the Cpomuter Kyes.  They confuse my fingers !!!

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Offline Lustrousstone

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Offline chopin-liszt

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #18 on: September 20, 2010, 03:20:49 PM »
but for the more practically minded - just don't fart anywhere near your silver..... :wsh:
Cheers, Sue M. (she/her)

‘For every problem there is a solution: neat, plausible and wrong’. H.L.Mencken

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Offline Baked_Beans

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Re: Is it possible to date this IOW Red Azurene paperweight ?
« Reply #19 on: September 20, 2010, 06:11:48 PM »
Correct me if I'm wrong here but I think that liquid silver polishes have abrasives included in the mix.

With such a fine layer of silver leaf covering the paperweight any abrasive would wear the silver away in addition to the chemical action of tarnishing (which also wears the silver away).

So the advantage of using hypo is that you don't have a double action of wear...just a single one the tarnishing. Also there is a very fine iridesence of different shades of blue and mauves to the surface of the weight. Surely an abrasive cleaner would have an effect on this. I think hypo is the gentle way to clean this type of weight without disturbing any other qualities of the fine finish . Anyway that's my (Ross's really) theory and I'm sticking with it....I have to 'cus I have a whole litre of the stuff ! ;)
Mike

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