Antique Britannia Metal Plating?

[ashcroft01]

Hello fellow Platers, Polishers and Powder Coaters! I have just been tasked to perform restoration on several antique (1870's) silver plated items from a local Antique Dealer. I have determined that the base metal to be an alloy called Britannia Metal, similar to Pewter, and comprised of mostly Tin with trace amounts of Copper and Antimony.

The question that I have is what would be the best way to start the surface preparation for the plating procedure? Each piece will require a thorough cleaning to remove tarnish and oxidation before making a final evaluation of the work to be accomplished.

Will SP Degreaser or an Acid Pickle harm the base metal in any way? Most of the original silver has been polished away due to the age. (There are no signs of an original strike coat of anything at this point) What do you recommend as a suitable way to remove the remaining silver plate without disturbing the underlying base metal? (It is all very intricately carved, engraved and embossed.)

To treat it like Pewter, a strike coat of Flash Copper would be needed first. Would you recommend Nickel over the Flash Copper first or go straight to Silver after the Copper Strike?

Thanks!

[fly]

Be very carefull with any acid cleaners......go with flash copper then a bright acid copper then nickle.....also you might need to treat it like pot-metal.

[ashcroft01]

Thank you for the reply. I am ready to get started and have got the hang of the Silvering process, I was just unsure of re-plating this particular type of metal. Most of my restorations have been Silver over Copper or Brass (fairly easy stuff).

I'll post pictures as the work progresses. I am actually excited about seeing these pieces restored to their original beauty.

One last question about the final finish...The pieces were originally a combination of matte or frosted silver with bright polished silver highlights within the decoration. Would it be more feasible to frost the pieces after the final silver plate by low pressure glass beading and masking, or frost everything before the plating begins and mirror polish the areas required during the plating process?

Thanks again,

Curtis