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I just picked up a large brass mega petaled horn that needs a good cleaning. The outside is dull brass and I'd like to shine it up. The inside has an iridescent coating of some kind and I don't want to ruin it. How can I safely clean it? It also came with a brass heavy duty crane. I didn't know these were made other than nickel plated. This one has no signs that it ever had any plating. Thanks for your help.

Could you post some photos? Last Spring, I picked up a bunch of horns and used several different methods to clean them, two of them sound like they're similar to the one you've got.

Sean

Thanks Sean. Here are some pictures

That's beautiful. I wouldn't touch it, but that's just me.

Here is the crane. As you can see, it needs cleaned and polished but there is no sign that I can see that it was ever nickel plated.

Have you touched a magnet to the crane? It could be a Copper wash. If it is actually plated, the plating being Copper or another soft metal, (possibly gold plated), you will probably remove the plating if you attempt to polish it. It may even be an oxide finish like the top plate of a Victor Royal.

Correct to what Django said. Be careful. I wouldn't do anything but a damp cloth with plain old water to remove any crud you can and see what's underneath. That might remove quite a bit, but shouldn't disturb the plating / finish. You can then follow up with a thin coat of clear paste wax, which should at least brighten things up.

That's a nice horn!

Sean

The crane has a copper oxide finish on it, though much of the oxide layer is worn away, showing the copper beneath. It's made of steel & cast iron.

The "iridescent finish" inside the horn is just more tarnish. In other words, the inside is no different than the outside, finish wise.

If you want to polish it, I'd start with this. (It really works!)

I would NOT polish the crane.

That crane is a scarce Hawthorne & Sheble No.6. It's the same as the common No.5 except it has an "oxidized bronze" finish similar to a Victor Royal (as noted above).

The horn looks more like a H&S than a "Mega." Can you show a picture of the hanger?

George P.

Here you go George. At least I've learned to ask questions BEFORE I try to clean something