Posted on 03/16/2011 9:49:32 AM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
We have a Sail Brothers bronze slag lamp that was made around 1900-1910. As you can see from the picture we use it as one of the regular lamps in our house (we have it plugged into one of those "as seen on TV" remote switches so we don't have to touch the lamp itself). It's quite nice with a good patina but I'm wondering if that was the color the Sail brothers had in mind when they originally made the lamp 100 years ago. We're not interested in selling it so I was thinking of having it polished and restored back to its original state. Have any of you ever had a piece of bronze polished before and how did you like the results? If I don't like it I suppose I can wait another 100 years to make it right again :-)
Yes, very true. A natural patina can take years to decades to develop.
I believe you can polish your own lamp. Or, if you can convince someone else to polish your lamp for no charge, that’s okay too. But most states have laws against paying someone else to polish your lamp.
Lamp polishing: The oldest profession.
Only take it to a reputable antique restorer.
Don’t touch it, it’s beautiful.
I think the patina looks nice. Don’t know if old lamps are like old furniture, but the value of old furniture is greatly diminished if someone refinishes the piece, even if the work is well done. I guess the old authentic lacquers and the accumulation of natural metal oxidation is part of what makes an antique a real antique.
Listen carefully:
DO NOT POLISH THE BRASS!!
You will lose a good 40% of the value if you do.
The only cleaning you want to perform on a piece like that is using warm water on the glass to get dust off. That is it, nothing more!
If you care about value NO.
Nooooooooooo!
The lamp is fine as it is. And when you are gone, you do not want your heirs bemoaning your stupidity in diminishing its value by cleaning and polishing it.
Unless you want to turn a $1,000 lamp into a nice shiney $50 lamp.
NO! That patina is half the value in an old piece like that.
NO !
Is that what they’re calling it now? ;-P
Seriously - DO NOT polish it. It ruins a lot of the value of the lamp.
Hey, this is a conservative website. Take that trash-talk over to DU.
Nice lamp. Just give it a light dusting now and then.
1. It looks exactly like the designers meant it to look. Victorain designers knew what they were doing in design and they knew their materials.
2. The patina that you have on it now is a function of both time and perhaps fifty years of existing in air that was heavily fouled by particulates and various other corrosive chemicals. Don’t mess with it.
3. It is quite beautiful.
So you do this as a hobby or........:o)
Once you polish it, you will have to keep polishing it, and for what? It looks nice as is.
P.S., I believe it is a Salem Brothers lamp, not Sale Brothers.
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