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Message:: [QUOTE="bluemoon, post: 207298, member: 1296"]The restoration project hasn't moved much at all, except today when I decided to Polish the brass hardware. I'm all for a good patina in the right place but since the brass mouldings are pretty shiny I decided a cohesive appearance would be better for the item. I also think that gilded brass is better maintained near its original condition, free of patina. I applied some powder polish and water on the decorative hardware I moved it around gently and washed it off. After it had dried there was a thun but semi-opaque chalky layer on the surface and the patina had not gone anywhere. I decided to wash it with soap and use a brush to get the chalky substance off. Once I rinsed the soap foam off, the hardware was almost as shiny as the sun. Most of the gilding in intact, only minimal portions (the tip of the nose of the face figure) show bare brass. I assume the mirror's hardware was never really polished so the gilding never wore off. Before and after: (not the same exact piece in both pictures but they all look like the after picture now) [ATTACH=full]60098[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]60099[/ATTACH] What do you think? The camera flatters the before picture. It really was much more of an orange-toned dull brown.[/QUOTE]