At an antique show I stumbled upon a brass humidor from liberty and company in England in the stylized floral checkerboard motif by Archibald Knox. I've cleaned the dirt and grime off the piece but it is still very dark and quite tarnished. If this piece was in copper I would be doing my best to maintain the patina. However, every Liberty piece I've seen before has been in higly polished silver or pewter so I'm wondering if I should be polishing this piece or leaving it alone with the dark patina.

Thanks in advance for the help

Jay

Most of the English Items were highly polished and intended to be so though out their life. Seems polishing brass and copper is a national obsession.

It would be great to see images of the humidor before you polish it.

Best,

Thanks Fred!!

I'll be able to post a picture this evening.

I got a deal on this piece. It really raises your hopes that there are still great pieces out there undiscovered and that spending the weekend going to antique shows is worth the effort.

What amazed me when I saw it was that only 2 booths away was a dealer that specialized in A&C antiques. He had already walked the show buying up a number of pieces from other dealers. Somehow he missed this one and I got lucky.

Thanks again!!

Jay

Hey Jay,
Can't wait to see the humidor!

Here is a photograph of the humidor.

Any suggestions on the best way to polish brass?

Thanks

Jay

Congratulations on a great British A&C piece!
I've had excellent results with a product called NEVRDULL. It comes in a blue tin and you
can find it at hardware stores. It's cotton batting which I think has been soaked in kerosene-- I'd use it outside, the odor is unpleasant. You tear off a wad of NEVRDULL and rub the piece with it until the brass reaches the level of "clean" you want. Once it does, set it aside until the whole thing dries-- it'll look hazy. Then polish with an old piece of cotton T-shirt. I think you'll be very pleased with the results.

Cheers,

Oliver

I like the finish it has now and would not polish it. It is a superb piece... I have never seen this piece in brass only in pewter.

Congratulation on a great find. How is it marked?

Best,

Thanks

The piece is marked "JB 2765". I've found 2 online references to old auctions:

http://www.skinnerinc.com/asp/...+707+&refno=+++98158

http://www.artfact.com/auction...esign-1-c-an5jphj5ls

Jay

Oh I agree with Fred, looks fine the way it is in the picture, but in person it might look like it needs to be polished up, you could probably go either way with it.

I was in the Navy and we used Neverdull to polish the brightwork on board ship, works very good, 30 years ago it came in a can that looked like it was from the 40's I remember thinking it was WW2 surplus! But I think it comes in the same can today, don't know for sure because since the Navy I've lost a desire to polish anything! Must be why I like old patina on copper...


Dano

Please please don't change this piece!

I hav a friend that's a silversmith. There are always tems in his workshop to un-polish all sorts of items