Hi, I'm new to this site and to collecting arts and crafts metalwork. I just picked up a copper desk set at an antique store this weekend. My question for you ardent and knowledgeable collectors and artisans is in regards to a few small and fairly superficial spots of corrosion on the pen tray. I saw some earlier posts on repatinating pieces and that seems like quite a bit of work. Should I just apply a wax treatment to the surface to prevent enlargement of the spots? Any suggestions would be appreciated! (I'm going to try to post a picture below)

Hi Greg and welcome to the forum. How fortunate to find something with your last initial.

The spots you see are verdigris and you are probably wise not to try and repatinate the entire set. I would try a small amount of olive oil on a soft cloth and moisten the greening spots. Let them set for a while and then carefully rub with the cloth. This will not rempove the spots and it may lessen them and take off the surface greening or at least darken them to a brown spot. Allow this to dry for a day and then apply wax to the entire desk set and rub softly to a shine.

Hope this works for you.

Thanks for the tip, Fred. I'll give it a try.

Greg,

Let us know how it turns out. The corrosion is not easy to get rid of without destroying the finish of the rest of the piece. The best you can do is arrest it from growing further. How may pieces of the desk set did you acquire? Any marks? Can you post images of the complete set? We love pictures.