MaC
Moderator
I was decidedly not in the notion for last Christmas (surgery re sun damage a fortnight beforehand; six bits of me off to biopsy) so my annual polish and outing of the posh cutlery didn't happen.
It's mostly bits and pieces built up over the years. Nice stuff, but the 'using' parts are simply Viners Dubarry pattern. It's a set enough to sit twelve people comfortably.
The silver plate on the old pieces is sound; some of it was engraved with a C for Himself's parents when they married in the 1930's. Some of the older pieces are Victorian, and then there's stuff from my childhood. Baby spoons and pushers, that kind of stuff.
I cleaned out the kist under the stairs this morning and I pulled out all the coats that hang in there too.....found a knife in a leather sheath on a baldric under one of my jackets. The knife will need attention, but that's another query/story.
On top of the kist sits the cutlery canteens. I opened the big one and realised that there was something off about the handles of the knives tucked into the lid. The ones at one side had not only gone green but gone pitted, corroded, and I have no idea why.
Black I can understand, and would just clean and polish, but this stuff isn't cleaning, and the knife handles look ruined to be honest.
Any ideas why this has happened ? after years of storing them safely this way ? why are only the modern knife handles affected....my Mum's 1950's ones aren't marked at all apart from a blackening along the edges. The Victorian ones are fine, so far, but I'd like the reassurance that I know what's causing the damage and how best to stop any further decay.
I've checked the silver in the cupboard (teapots, milk, sugar, tongs, egg cups, napkin rings, candlesticks, centrepieces, those things) and they're fine. Could do with a polish, but not dreadfully in need.
It's just the modern Viners knives in the cutlery canteen that have rotted.
It's mostly bits and pieces built up over the years. Nice stuff, but the 'using' parts are simply Viners Dubarry pattern. It's a set enough to sit twelve people comfortably.
The silver plate on the old pieces is sound; some of it was engraved with a C for Himself's parents when they married in the 1930's. Some of the older pieces are Victorian, and then there's stuff from my childhood. Baby spoons and pushers, that kind of stuff.
I cleaned out the kist under the stairs this morning and I pulled out all the coats that hang in there too.....found a knife in a leather sheath on a baldric under one of my jackets. The knife will need attention, but that's another query/story.
On top of the kist sits the cutlery canteens. I opened the big one and realised that there was something off about the handles of the knives tucked into the lid. The ones at one side had not only gone green but gone pitted, corroded, and I have no idea why.
Black I can understand, and would just clean and polish, but this stuff isn't cleaning, and the knife handles look ruined to be honest.
Any ideas why this has happened ? after years of storing them safely this way ? why are only the modern knife handles affected....my Mum's 1950's ones aren't marked at all apart from a blackening along the edges. The Victorian ones are fine, so far, but I'd like the reassurance that I know what's causing the damage and how best to stop any further decay.
I've checked the silver in the cupboard (teapots, milk, sugar, tongs, egg cups, napkin rings, candlesticks, centrepieces, those things) and they're fine. Could do with a polish, but not dreadfully in need.
It's just the modern Viners knives in the cutlery canteen that have rotted.
