Featured Cleaning green putty off silverplate

I have this Cheshire silverplate bowl. It is marked with Alpha Chi Omega. ( a longstanding musical fraternity). Maybe used as a centerpiece for a reunion or something. It has remnants of that green putty substance. I tried very hot water. Can someone recommend something else to try?
Thank you for looking!

 

Well, that's a stab from the past. I happen to be an AXO, which is a national collegiate fraternity and has nothing to do with music. For some reason, they were always handing out engraved Revere bowls. Can't remember if it was upon pledging or upon graduating. At any rate, I have a similar somewhere.

Debora

 

Thank you, Debora, I like to learn things like that. I assumed it may not have been something everyone received, so then there’s that possibility.

 

WD-40 or other light oil should loosen it. Let sit & remove with soft cloth.

 

Thank you. Will definitely try that!

 

It’s working already! But I will leave it sit longer. Thank you!

 

If the smell of WD-40 is especially off-putting, you could try sewing-machine oil. That is also very runny, but has no odour.

 

Thank you, I already have the WD40 Working. I hope I never come across this green stuff again, but if I do, I’ll try the sewing machine oil.

 

Good to know, thanks. I have porphyria, chemical smells can cause a fit.
I use graphite for some things, but I'll give this a try for other things that have been on the to do list for too long.

 

Hi,
I stopped using DW-40 several years ago. I buy silicone spray now. No dirty greasy mess. For some reason DW-40 always leaves a dark mess. Especially on door hinges. The smell makes me a little woozy that is why I changed to silicone spray.
greg

 

I use sewing machine oil for almost everything. Locks, sewing machines, typewriters, pocketknives, polishing, cleaning, flushing out gunk...It's transparent, very thin and runny, and it has no appreciable smell.

Well I mean it probably does, but very very weak, if at all.

Right now, I'm using it to clean a pocketknife.

 

Does anybody know if that green putty had a purpose ? I have an Italian silver coin from the 1680's that has a similar looking, very hard green substance on the reverse that I would like to remove. I tried soaking it in Acetone and no luck. Maybe the WD-40 ?

I'm guessing that the green substance on my silver coin was used to adhere the coin to something many, many years ago.

 

I do believe the coin had been adhered to something in the distant past. The Italians would use silver coins for all kinds of things from from jewelry to watch fobs.

 

@serafino - The green gunk usually serves to join two surfaces, so you are most likely correct. Oil will loosen it but WD-40 will definitely do the trick. I'd take a small dish (or lid from a small jar) & put a bit in, then lay the coin gunk side down in the WD. Leave it as long as it takes - you may have to scrape gunk & repeat the process if the stuff is stubborn.

 

Thanks for the advise, the green gunk on this silver coin looks just like the posted Cheshire bowl pic and is very hard. I am going to give it the WD-40 treatment.

 

Be sure to report back, and share a pic of the coin (we love pics)

 

The green gunk in the bowl looks like green florist clay used to arrange flowers. In a Revere bowl, it likely wouldn't be possible to arrange flowers without the clay. And I'm not surprised that it's coming off with WD. (greg, silicone spray is my favorite also, started using it when it was recommended for the garage hinges.)

But on a coin?? Could that be some type of corrosion since it is so hard? I think there are other ways for cleaning that green stuff. Maybe Mr. google knows.

 

I'm an avid coin collector and I'm familiar with the different types of corrosion. This green gunk is more like an old green adhesive/putty substance

 

@serafino , Did you know about the "Coin Talk" forum? https://www.cointalk.com/forums/

It's related to this Antiquers forum... much larger in terms of membership, though. I don't belong but have heard about it here before.