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Monday, September 28, 2009

Saint Genesius Medal Cleaning Question

A reader sent us this question.
Jim, I have a round, Saint Genesius medal necklace, purchased about 1973. It is slightly larger than a quarter and about the same thickness. I believe it was purchased from a religious supplier…maybe from NYC???.

On the bottom is stamped “Sterling Creel” or “Sterling Greel”. No one seems to know what this is and I haven’t found anything on the Internet about it. The biggest reason I’m asking…aside from general curiosity…is that silver polishing cloths and solutions do not clean it. The only way I that has worked is to use a soft polishing wheel on my Dremel tool – on slow. I’ve only done this twice in 35 years because I know it’s removing silver as well as the tarnish. The tarnishing is extremely uneven. The relief image on the front seems to polish up a little, but the tarnish on the smooth back
doesn’t.

Any information or suggestions?

Thank you very much. This is THE MOST prized possession I have.
If anyone out there has some information about this, leave a comment or send us an email.

Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Candelabra Identification Question

A reader named Jeffrey has asked for assistance in identifying the candelabra shown in these pictures. I am not familiar with the mark, "SA". If you have any ideas, please add your comment or send us an email.


Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.

Friday, September 18, 2009

An Ad for Our Ads

In the right column of this blog you can find ads placed there automatically by Google. You only see two but there are actually ten. You can access the others with the up and down arrows. Ads also appear near the very bottom of the screen.

Google tries to place ads that relate to the content of the blog. If you are displaying the entire blog, you can count on the fact to 80% or more of the ads will relate to silver somehow. Many will be for sellers of sterling silver. If you are looking to buy, click on these ads to check out what's available and at what price. If you are looking to sell, click on the same ads and look for information regarding how to sell to the advertiser.

If you are displaying only a single blog entry, the ads may vary quite a bit. For example, if the article you are displaying talks about knives, you may see an ad for a seller of Bowie knives! So, for the best ad content, make sure you are displaying the entire blog.

Google also provides a search tool in the right column. Searching from this blog has some predefined search criteria relating to silver. You'll find more ads among the displayed search results, also silver related.

We encourage you to check out these ads if you are looking for anything related to silver.
Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

An "Eggciting" Tarnish Experiment

We've mentioned several times the effect certain foods can have on sterling. We decided to have a little fun with one of the primary culprits - eggs! We boiled an egg, cut it into small pieces and placed them in a bowl. We placed a silver plate piece next to the bowl and kept them overnight inside a cake container. You see the before and after pictures below along with a picture of the cake container.

BEFORE
AFTER


The "after" picture really does not show how dramatic the change was. The sulphur in the egg caused significant tarnish in just 12 hours. The moral of this story is to wash your sterling soon after being exposed to eggs!

Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

How Much Silver is in a Sterling Knife?

A blog reader recently emailed us some questions about sterling knives that we can't answer. His basic question was, "How can you determine how much silver is actually in a sterling knife?" Here are the two basic problems we all face in trying to address this question:
  • Knife blades almost always are NOT sterling (in modern times, there are made of stainless steel)
  • Knife handles are filled with a cement of some type to hold the blade to the handle
Without taking the knife apart, it's difficult to determine the weight of actual silver content.

This reader thought that there might be some reference sources that could help determine silver content for different patterns and manufacturers.

We would really like to hear from readers knowledgeable about this subject.

Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Effect of Silver on Your Health

We recently received an email from a reader regarding a sterling water pitcher she was using. The water from the pitcher had a slight metallic taste, which she actually liked, but she was wondering about health issues. I have summarized her comments into the questions, adding some of my own:
  • Could silver (or some other metal) be leeching into the water while it sits in the pitcher?
  • If silver is in the water, is it bad for your health?
  • Or does it have some positive impact?

We don't feel competent to answer any of these questions definitively. However, we'll offer some comments and pose some questions of our own.

  1. Could there be something in the local water supply that's reacting with the sterling? Try pouring some bottled purified water into the pitcher and then drink it. Maybe you should rinse the pitcher thoroughly with purified water as a first step. Does it still taste metallic?
  2. Have the tap water chemically analyzed and have some tap water that's been sitting in the pitcher for an hour or so analyzed to see if there is a difference.
  3. Invite some neighbors in for a blind taste test to see if they can pick the water from the pitcher!
  4. Silver in high enough concentration is bad for you. In severe cases, it will make your skin turn permanently gray. Really!
  5. We have heard of health supplements containing silver but we can't comment on their effectiveness for anything and we would not ingest them ourselves.

This is a new topic for us and we hope readers who have more information will post comments or send us emails.

Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

"Still in Sealed Plastic Sleeve"

We are often asked variations of this question by people interested in selling, "I have some sterling flatware pieces still new in their unopened plastic sleeves. Can I get a higher price for these pieces?" Believe it or not, my answer is, "Yes, but not nearly as much as you think!"

We can't explain it but the marketplace seems to lump all "used" pieces together, even those pieces still in plastic. Maybe it's like the "driving the car off the showroom floor" devaluation syndrome. Here are some other possibilities for the phenomenon:

  • Buyers don't trust sellers - maybe the bags have been resealed, not a difficult task

  • Poor storage causes damage - abrasions, bends and dents can develop from rough handling during storage even though the pieces are in plastic

  • Not all plastic bags remain 100% airtight - we have seen tarnish on pieces that look to be in original sealed bags
So, don't automatically expect to get prices near retail for your sealed pieces. Sorry!

Check the pictures below. They are all of the same fork in what seems to be the original sealed plastic sleeve.

It's hard to tell from the pictures because of the sleeve itself but you can see tiny specks of tarnish at the base of the tines.

Tarnish is really obvious around the words, "Gorham Sterling".


Tarnish is not a serious problem and this fork will polish out to be beautiful. But, technically, it will no longer be "new".

Click on any picture to see a larger version. By clicking on "Comments/Questions" below, you can see posted comments and add your own questions and comments. Or, you can send us an email by clicking on "Email Silver Jim" in the right column.