Any ideas on how to clean/ fix a cleaned trench art vase

[Gwendolyn]

I recently acquired a trench art vase that looked as though someone had tried to polish it or something. I soaked it in hot water with a combination of dish soap and baking soda, though it did clean it, it turned from a gold to a dark colorful piece. Any suggestions on how to get its original color back? Thank you

[Interested]

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and it looks like the baking soda has extracted the zinc from the surface, leaving it copper-coloured.

The surface patination is probably very thin - a molecule deep, perhaps,  but as far as I know, you can't put the zinc back chemically, so you have to remove the copper molecules by physical abrasion using metal polish.

However, someone may be along shortly with greater knowledge and experience who can advise you better.

Good luck.

[Dave66]

Personally, given the uneven finish I would get the Brasso out, but at first I’d have a go at the base to see if you can get an even finish back…if that worked I’d polish it all….you can then decide if you want to keep it shiny or just leave it to get its patina back.

Dave.

[Gunner Bailey]

1 hour ago, Dave66 said:

Personally, given the uneven finish I would get the Brasso out, but at first I’d have a go at the base to see if you can get an even finish back…if that worked I’d polish it all….you can then decide if you want to keep it shiny or just leave it to get its patina back.

Dave.

Agree with that. About two hours work and 25% of a tin of Brasso.

[Gwendolyn]

Thanks guys :-), I originally didn’t want to use a metal polisher, i was looking for the most natural way, but there doesn’t seem to be much info out there, but I think I will try the brasso on the base, even it out if it works, then leave it alone.  I’ll keep y’all posted. Thank you

[Spaceman]

Obviously a metal polish will remove metal from the exposed surface but not easily from the indented parts where the art work is. An alternative might be to use a small brass wire brush or something like Rustins brass restorer that contains acid to remove tarnish in brass or copper.