I have a lot of vintage silver and copper items. They are very tarnished. There is a battle going on now as to what you are supposed to do. Are you supposed to leave them tarnished to show their age or do you clean and polish them so they look beautiful again?

Hi, my_alibi!

What do you mean by "vintage", please?

Thanks!

Are we talking silver plated or sterling silver? I clean both will no apparent ill effects with a silver cleaner. But of course if it is silver plated, the more you clean the more you wear down the silver plating. There are abrasives in most all commercial silver cleaners.

I have both sterling and plated, brass, and copper items dating from the 60's and 70's to as far back as the early 1900's. I am selling everything so i want to make sure it is taken care of properly.