How to remove lacquer from silver

Acetone

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

A. Hi Patricia. Chances are the decorator applied a simple lacquer that is removable with lacquer thinner ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! . Aircraft stripper (methylene chloride) will remove virtually any clear coat but it so noxious & toxic that it should be a last resort.

Luck & Regards,

A. Try acetone or acetone + ammonia ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] mix (4:1 or 3:1 ).Hope it helps and good luck!

A. You can use fruit stone blasting or plastic media blasting or you can use chemicals such as acetone, MEK / methyl ethyl ketone, or paint remover gel ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] .

Good luck

Acetone

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

A. You can use any solvent based paint stripper! Sometimes you can use 4 parts acetone/1 part ammonia ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] (25%) mixture! Boiling in washing soda ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] solution also can help (200 gm soda/1 lit water). Rinse well.

Good luck!

A. Acetone works real well

... (not Nail Polish Remover). Rinse with soapy water. Polish with your silver polish. Can be used on Plate as well as Sterling. Works fast, super easy.

Ed. update 2024: It seems that until recent years, most nail polish remover was acetone with some water mixed in to reduce its flammability. More recently, probably due to more durable nail lacquers, 100% acetone nail polish removers have become common. At the same time, non-acetone removers are becoming more widely offered.

A. Lacquer thinner ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! will take it off in seconds

A. Hi Esther. Sorry, I'm confused ...

You took these candlesticks to a shop and, after you spent a lot of money on the restoration, he gave them back to you with the lacquer supposedly stripped, but they still need further stripping, and they have dark spots, and they need polishing? What kind of "stripping" would the silver need if the lacquer has already been stripped?

Or do you mean "It would have been quite expensive", so you didn't have it done? Not nit-picking about your grammar, just trying to understand your question. Thanks.

Regards,

A. Hi Shirley. I think you already know what silver should usually look like, because you've described how this item looks darker than it should. But whether this particular urn once looked different than silver usually looks, due to some treatment by the manufacturer, is impossible to say.

Your aunt may have had it rhodium plated, or lacquered, or clear coated, but there are so many possibilities and countless millions of different pieces of silver holloware. She may have even painted it to disguise its value. My personal guess, though, is that it's rhodium plated ... is it the color of a shiny new "white gold" ring?

Regards,

Polishing Sticks

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

A. Hi Shirley. I understand your question but even still, it remains: "What chemical will remove an unknown plating or coating from something, without having any effect on the underlying surface, which I think is silver but don't really know?" How do you know it's not pewter?

Nobody can suggest such a chemical. But what you can try yourself, or have a local jeweler try, is removing the coating with polishing/sanding sticks (sort of like emery boards, but your jeweler will have them). If you do get down to silver, at least you'll know that much as the launching point towards trying chemicals.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi Gerri. The acetone ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly Flammable! previously suggested may work. If not, a paint stripper with methylene chloride (aircraft stripper) almost surely will; but as a minimum you need goggles ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , rubber gloves ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , and good (outdoor) ventilation. It's really noxious stuff.

Regards,

Thank you, Ted. Appreciate your help.

A. Hi Moffat. Acetone is acetone regardless of brand name. My guess is that it is not lacquer if acetone does not remove it. Aircraft Stripper will almost surely remove it, but that is toxic, noxious stuff which you only want to use under a lab hood or outside, and while wearing personnel protective equipment.

Regards,

A. Hi Tova. Acetone won't hurt silver. Sometimes you can tell something has been lacquered because you see patchiness or peeling in the clear coating from multiple layers of lacquer. Sometimes you can tell it is isn't lacquered because it's black. Sometimes you can tell it's been lacquered or protected in some way because it doesn't tarnish. Possibly you can tell that's it's non-conductive (and therefore lacquered) with an ohmmeter; or that it's conductive (and therefore not lacquered). But usually, if it readily tarnishes it's not lacquered; and if it doesn't readily tarnish it probably is.

Regards,

A. Hi Patricia. You can try the silver wipe-on stuff on one of them and see what you think. Amazon reviews, as usual, range from 1 star to 5 stars.

Regards,

A. Hi Janet. It's really anybody's guess why some unknown person at an unknown time would put silver paint on silver plate. However, it could certainly be that the silver plating was worn away and the underlying copper or other base material was showing through and will again when you remove the paint.

Aircraft stripper (methylene chloride) is one of the most noxious things you can work with, requiring as a minimum goggles, rubber gloves ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] , and working outside from the upwind side. But its strong suit is that it will remove virtually any paint without damaging virtually any metal.

Regards,

A. Hello Cee. The main issue is that you don't know and I don't know what this blackening is. It is probably a 'liver of sulfur' ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] type oxidation, but it may have been followed by a lacquer, or it could be a black lacquer. Chemical removal would have to be trial & error unless some reader on this site or some other source more experienced than us can tell us exactly what it is. Mechanical removal by blasting or sanding is promising except that the stones would probably have to be masked.

What are your grounds for confidence that it is sterling silver?

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi again. If polish seems to do nothing, that may increase the odds that there is a lacquer of some sort over the silver and the blackening. Lacquer thinner ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] Warning! highly flammable! or acetone should probably be tried next in that case. They are harmless to most metals including silver, but I'm not sure what those "stones" are, or that they are fully resistant.

Luck & Regards,

A. Try acetone - ammonia ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] mix (3-4 parts acetone and 1 part 25% ammonia). Paint stripper can be used too.

A. Hi Vera. Sorry for the disappointment.

You say you "removed the wax", but you didn't tell us how you did that -- acetone, ammonia, scraping, abrading with sandpaper, etc. Also we don't know whether the candlesticks are sterling silver despite being Tiffany (do they say so?). Answering those two questions and e-mailing a photo for posting here would help. It also might help others who were reading this page who want to remove lacquer from silver.

Meanwhile you might take it to a jewelry shop and see what they say about polishing it. It's not impossible to do it yourself, but such skills are better acquired practicing on scrap than heirlooms, so it might be best to go to someone with polishing experience.

Luck & Regards,

A. That is a job for a professional metals/objects conservator. Probably there are many American Institute for Conservation members in Los Angeles area
www.culturalheritage.org/about-conservation/find-a-conservator

Hope it helps and good luck!