How to Remove Paint from Silver Without Damage - Expert Advice

Question
Hi Thomas!  Hope you can help.  I bought a candelabra at a thrift store yesterday that I thought was cast iron (quite heavy for it's size).  When I took off the bottom felt, I found out the piece is silver (or silver plate).  Someone painted it in a flat black paint.  Using a fingernail, I was able to scrape away a little of the paint but don't want to scratch it.  Can paint remover be used on this piece without destroying the silver?  And one other question, WHY would anyone paint over silver?  Thanks for any help.   Lucy

Answer
Lucy, interesting thrift store find!  Why in the world someone would paint it black I sure can't answer. Folks do funny things sometimes.  Obviously it was quite well disguised as something besides silver.

You need to get the paint off the bottom enough to see if there is a mark showing the item to be sterling. As you said, this might be silver plate.  If plate, the plate may have so worn that the piece was painted, who knows for sure. You will know the condition when the paint is removed.

General paint solvents should not damage the silver. You don't want to use anything with sulfur as an ingredient.  If a solvent like acetone will work, that would be a safe approach but it will not work with some paints. You can get acetone at a hardware store. (This was the main ingredient in fingernail polish remover a while back.)

I would check to see if the base of the candelabra is  open or closed. If closed, it may be filled with a plaster material to provide weight. For this reason, if the base is closed, soak with the base out of the solvent to avoid any possible leaks into the plaster.  The plaster does not need to be soaked with a solvent since some of the old plasters for filling contain a wax or shellac like binder.

After removing the paint, rinse well and take a look. You should be able to tell if this is worn silver plate by a base metal other than silver showing through in worn areas. If sterling, a good cleaning with silver polish is in order at this point.

This is quite interesting and I do hope you discover it to be sterling.

Happy holiday seasons. God Bless.    Thomas.

December 14, 2007  6:53PM