Patina or not Patina

[grenadierguardsman]

Outstanding job, looks really good lovely helmet plate.
Andy

[Tim B.]

The issue of cleaning items comes up a lot in collecting circles and always seems to have two main trains of thought:

- Clean it, as that's the way it was meant to be seen/worn and no respectable soldier would have let his uniform accouterments take on that filth!

- It's a collectable; cleaning it ruins it's history and in many circles, value. I have found this true especially with coins but also in many militaria related items where cleaning decreases value, especially if done incorrectly.


I personally try to resist cleaning items whenever possible, other than the brush with a soft, wet toothbrush if dirt or grime is apparent. With the British stuff, as you guys like to polish everything, I find leaving the old polish in the recesses adds to the item's look and certainly it adds contrast to any name engraving (medals mostly) where that information stands out better.

Corrosion is a different matter altogether and in those cases, though I hate to lose patina (toning), it just has to be done (lessor of two evils per se) to keep the badge from further deterioration.


In my past quests to make an item look more like it was just issued, I have found that loss of patina an item took years to develop that unique appearance of an aged old item and the charm that coveys it's true age is lost once cleaned and what remains is a nice looking example of what the badge would have looked like when it was first produced but, for me at least, the charm is gone and I usually regret cleaning it.

With that said, I personally loved the look of this badge prior to cleaning but I must also admit that the end results are truly fantastic. The method used has produced outstanding results and I truthfully can't say I would be unhappy with the badge in either condition.

It all comes down to the person who is the temporary custodian of the piece of history they have in their collection and hopefully manages to care for it before it eventually finds a new caretaker.

I almost can't believe the end results ~ Looks nice, great job here!

Tim

[Paul Spellman]

Thanks for the positive comments.
As mentioned I do think I was Lucky! particularly with the end result.
I don't normally clean my badges other than removing any verdigris and maybe give them a rub with a silver cloth.
I do not think that the appearence of the badge originally was down to a true patina and was more to other factors like damp and/or tobbaco, it was very unpleasant (with gunk and smell) dismantling the badge and I think I probably addressed a few problems the badge would have had, I doubt very much it would if been sold to a collector and if moved on it would of been as a going concern.
Yes I am pretty pleased and a bit shocked how well it went, just the dismantling part was the most stressful thing I have done for years!!
Paul