Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents.

[HuliganRS]

Isn't there some certain cloths/woods that when come in contact with silver will cause oxidation/patination?

Rusty.

[Ed_Haynes]

Am I wrong to get a very, very uncomfortable feeling in my gut regarding all this non-reversible meddling and mucking-about with awards? OK, maybe I just am too much of a purist?

What the recipients did to them is one thing, and part of their history. And that damage or even just that patina is also part of that history. What we do to them may just border on desecration?

Ed Haynes

[Dave]

Am I wrong to get a very, very uncomfortable feeling in my gut regarding all this non-reversible meddling and mucking-about with awards? OK, maybe I just am too much of a purist?

What the recipients did to them is one thing, and part of their history. And that damage or even just that patina is also part of that history. What we do to them may just border on desecration?

Ed Haynes

Ed-

Since I feel that your comments are directed at me, let me first say that I am probably the last guy to EVER feel comfortable cleaning an award. I have discussed this at length with other collectors who believe that it's okay to clean awards (one case in point was very advanced Soviet collector in fact, who is a great guy, but felt that he SHOULD polish all of the awards when he got them... I can't tell you how many of his groups I've passed up, just becaused they were "gleaming".)

For this thread, however, I did this for an educational experiment for the benefit of the people on the board. While I did feel bad about taking the original patina off the award, what other thing would I have used to demonstrate the application of a chemical patina on? Everything in my collection belonged to SOMEONE, and it's pretty tough to find sterling silver awards that are newly produced.

Anyway, I feel that the experiment was a valuable one, and that I learned a lot from it. Hopefully others on the forum will be able to use what I found out here to either restore awards, or identify fake/altered awards with a chemical patina.

--Dave

[Ed_Haynes]

Dave,

Please, understand, my comments are not "directed at" anyone, and I have enjoyed (?) and learned from your experiment. It is just that I had a rising sense of unease (< nausea) that I wanted to express. In all honesty, I am not sure how I feel about this experiment, the more I think about it. Have I learned enough to justify the sacrifice before my eyes of an Order of Glory? I really do not know.

Ed

[Nota Bene]

Dolf,

For coins I use Jeweluster coin cleaner, that works on gold, silver and brass/coper. I think it's more delicate then that stuff, used to clean silverwear. If you absolutely must clean that medal I would suggest dipping it in the solution for a split secong, and rinsing it under cold water right away. Do not rub it, just let it rest on a piece of soft cloth untill dry. Try this proces on something very inexpensive first.

Alexei

[Dolf]

Alexei,

Thanks a lot.

I hope I'll never have a Medal/Order in such condition, but it's good to know what to do just in case one of mine deteriorate with time or I'm sold one with those "green stuff" or "red rust" chips or spots.

That "Jeweluster" you mention is it the name of the product or a mark?
I recently found a store here where they sell that kind of products with lots of accessories for Coins, Stamps and that kind of stuff and got a Catalog from a mark called Leuchtturm! You know it? They have those cleaning products for Coins, but in their case I noticed they have one for Gold, another for Silver and another for Brass/Copper!

Thanks again.

Regards,

Dolf

[paddywhack]

eeeemmm its not like it was melted down for it silver or anything! it was cleaned! which if the vet who owned was still wearing it would have done anyway!
it was a good thing to do because it now helps us to see when a medal has been messed with! and the order itself looks fine!

[Nota Bene]

Dolf,

I don't know this one, but I believe any product for cleaning coins will work, because they were designed for the same job.

Alexei

[Dave]

Dave,

Please, understand, my comments are not "directed at" anyone, and I have enjoyed (?) and learned from your experiment. It is just that I had a rising sense of unease (< nausea) that I wanted to express. In all honesty, I am not sure how I feel about this experiment, the more I think about it. Have I learned enough to justify the sacrifice before my eyes of an Order of Glory? I really do not know.

Ed

Ed-

I understand. I think I'm honestly a little more "callused" than I should be towards this particular award, as it came out of a very fake group. The award itself was good, but the rest of the group was bad. I understand where you're coming from, and hopefully this will have provided sufficient experimentation to convince others "not to try this at home..."

--Dave

[Dolf]

Alexei,

Again, thanks a lot.

I only hope I'll never need to use that suff but one never knows!

Dolf