The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just bought a new old floral horn and it is rather dirty from
many years of exposure.Can anyone recommend how to clean this without damaging
floral paintings.See pic.

Seattle Antiques Market.....is that your store??. If so, I've been in there a few times. As I'm sure some of our Washington state members have as well.
If your planing to re-sell the horn, I would just leave it as it is. Too much risk involved touching it.

Best thing to do is dust it off and leave it alone, it looks great. Too many times I've seen well intentioned cleaning that just ruins the look of an otherwise nicely aged item.

(BTW, it's TTC, Tea Tray Company)

Seattle Antiques is were I bought the horn.It is a beauty.
I will take your advice and do minimal cleaning.

Thanks for that correction I don't know how I got CTC from TCT
or TTC.
A little info on that company.
"The incorporation certificate for the
Newark Tea Tray Company was filed on Aug. 3, 1871; and the company
existed until May 6, 1921."
"The patent for the familiar Edison morning glory horn was issued to
Charles Eichorn in 1905, who sold the rights to the Tea Tray Company
of Newark, New Jersey, a long established metal working concern. The
Tea Tray Company manufactured Edison's horns, as well as its own line
of aftermarket amplifiers."

If the base paint is stable you should be able to clean a bit of surface grime. I'd try what we've used at the museum I work at to clean dirty paper - a loosely woven bag of rubber crumbs. It works like a very gentle eraser.

If you can't find that, the old version was to rub the surface with slices of cheap white bread, then wipe with a clean soft cloth.

With both versions please be certain that the paint is still attached to the metal and won't rub off.

This might make some people cringe, but I watched a collector clean a red T&T horn with a non-abrasive version of GoJo hand cleaner and a soft cotten rag, like an old undershirt. I wouldn't have imagined doing that, but the paint was not hurt and the results were amazing. Disclaimer: Your Mileage May Vary

The actually letters in the Tea Tray Company monogram are 'TTCo'. Because of how it is stylized, the uninitiated often think it is 'TCT', and ignore the small 'O' in the center of the 'C'.

Gojo contains lanolin -- wool fat -- that simply emulsifies the waxes and oils and soots that have built-up on the surfaces. It also works on wood. It is a cleaner though, not a polish. I would apply a coat of suitable paste wax after the surface is cleaned. Similarly, if you should ever have to patch a roof and get asphalt-based tar on your hands, don't clean them with a carcinogenic and flammable solvent like gasoline, just use cooking oil. It will dissolve the heavier substance immediately. You can clean mainsprings in cooking oil!

That maybe why the GoJo worked on the paint on a TcT horn.
Because it acted like a wax.That would improve the sheen of the paint
much like waxing a car which has gotten dull.
Thank you for all your interesting ideas on this item.

OK, here goes nothing... I have VERY successfully cleaned all types of painted horns (flowered and black) and parts (and 78 records for that matter) with WD-40. It does NOT damage the paint and it does not damage 78 records (it actually restores and cleans/lubricates the grooves). It tends to give it some needed life and makes it look good.

I started doing this years ago, when I got a Victor R with a very nice black horn - no dents or bends, but a number of unsightly scratches that went down to bare metal. I agonized over the possibility of repainting it, since it really detracted from it's appearance. So, I figured I had nothing to lose by experimenting. Someone out there is going to think I'm crazy, but this really works.

The original paint on a horn is a very thin japanned black paint, so touching it up with paint is unsightly - you need to completely strip it if you are going to repaint. I used a black Sharpie marker to go over every scratch and mar on the black paint. When I was done, you could see a variance, since the marker was shinier. So, I decided to spray the entire horn with WD-40. It was like magic, since the marker lines disappeared and blended in with the rest of the paint. The original black paint looked great, also, since 100 yrs had dried it out and it looked lifeless... If you want a really nice protective finish that will last after treating it, spray it with G-96 Gun Treatment, which should be available at most gun stores or sporting goods stores. It is manufactured by G-96 Products, Patterson, NJ (It also works good to protect anything metal, especially guns).

If you don't believe this, try it on something you don't care about. It works great on reproducer backs that have been scratched or the paint has rubbed off with age.