Cleaning Victor Gold Plate

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Garret
Victor IV
Posts: 1645
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:07 pm
Location: Lille, France

Cleaning Victor Gold Plate

Post by Garret »

Hello, all!

I am trying to clean the gold plate on a 1915-built Victrola that I have. There is a crusty black and brown coating sitting on top of the gold plate, and it needs to come off, so that I can assess whether the original plating is still good or not. So far, the coating only seems to come off when I pick at it with my finger nail; neither alcohol nor ammonia seem to dissolve the coating. Would any of you know what the composition of the protective coating Victor put on top of it's gold plate is, and how to remove it without damaging the gold plate underneath?

Garret

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FloridaClay
Victor VI
Posts: 3708
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:14 pm
Location: Merritt Island, FL

Re: Cleaning Victor Gold Plate

Post by FloridaClay »

Humm. I am wondering if somebody has put some sort of extra coating on it at some time in the past. Usually the grunge comes right off with amonia.

Clay
Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume's Laws of Collecting
1. Space will expand to accommodate an infinite number of possessions, regardless of their size.
2. Shortage of finance, however dire, will never prevent the acquisition of a desired object, however improbable its cost.

gramophone78
Victor VI
Posts: 3946
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:42 am
Location: Western Canada

Re: Cleaning Victor Gold Plate

Post by gramophone78 »

I think Jerry covers this in detail in our "Tech & Tips" section. ;)

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