liberty pewter
henk tattje
of course after 90 odd years these items are a bit dull and grey.
My question is should these items be polished and how do I do that,
or should they be left as they are.
Your comments are highly appreciated
henk
Patricia Jansma
Hereby what i could find about cleaning pewter:
"pewter obtains a beautiful patina when cared for. You can make it shine
like silver or leave it dark, just as you wish. An old method for cleaning
pewter is pumestone (= puimsteen) mixed with vegtable oil or animal fat,
but such a method is too harsh for the older pieces - no matter how long
they have been neglected. The usual (good) "home" liquids for cleaning
metals are suitable to make it shine and don't corrode the patina. Very
dirty pieces one should put it a bath with parafine-oil (and not white
spirit/terpentine). Depending on how dirty it is you should leave it there
for either a few hours or a few days. Afterwards dry it with old
newspapers and wash it with warm water & dishwashliquid. If you want it to
shine, again, use metalpolish.
Don't ever use metal-sponges: they scratch the surface.
You can keep it 'goodlooking' by protecting the piece with beeswax: it
will protect it against coloring, and keep it shiny for a littlebit more
time."
My feeling is that cleaning or not depends on:
a) on the state the piece is in (too dirty = not nice, soft shiny patina =
nice)
b) on how the piece was intended to look (you can find that out by looking
up the piece -or a simularone- on internet or a library near you.
Good luck,
Patricia
Double D Auction
in this group. Most say that you ruin the patina beauty & value
by polishing. No matter how mild the polish is, it can scratch
the surface & flake off miniscule bits of the metal.
I've seen collectors and/or dealers who would not purchase
something unless it is in original bright & shiny condition.
I've also seen others that would not buy something in that
condition, because they don't believe it is old if you can see
your relection in it.
BTW, what exactly is "liberty" pewter?
Debbie
Derek U.
Ive seen many pieces of rare and unusual silver at shows which are
polished to
the point one might be affraid that they would get a sunburn from the
glare off of
them.
However, completely on the flip-side, most collectors of hammered copper
would
begin to jitter and froth at the mouth if they ever saw you try to
polish a piece of
Roycroft (etc).
2ndly, although I dont think the "Antique Roadshow" is terribly
representative
of the actual values of some antiques --- Ive seen several pieces of
Tiffany metalware and other metals which had their value cut in 1/2 or
1/3
because at some point in time someone polished off the patina.
My opinion --- never polish a piece of metal of any type.... the patina
gives
it a nice antique feel (afterall it is an antique.)
-DU
Charleen Bunjiovianna
>
>BTW, what exactly is "liberty" pewter?
>Debbie
Liberty & Co., famed London retailers, perhaps best known in the U.S. today
for selling Liberty cotton prints (marvelous stuff, that). Well-known for
selling "Arts & Crafts" pewter, notably the Tudric line. Avidly collected
in some circles. I would post pointers to examples, but why encourage people
to sneer?
Their half-timbered store on Regent St. is definitely worth a visit next
time you're in London.
Charleen
Richard Ward
search on eBay, and came up with the following examples. (Please note,
these are not my auctions, nor do I know the persons who are auctioning
them, I'm just pointing to the for discussion purposes.)
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=176342844
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=175413802
I thought it was interesting that one of the pieces had been polished to
a brilliant shine, and one had not. The polished piece had the higher
bid when I looked, but the unpolished piece seemed to have a lot more
character, at least it fit my tastes more.
Henk, how about showing us the piece you have? (Of course, don't post a
photo to the newsgroup directly, post it to a web page and then post a
link to the newsgroup.) I'd like to see it.
Richard Ward
Richard Ward
Ronnie McKinley
>BTW, what exactly is "liberty" pewter?
Debbie, you recall the image of the sideboard I put up to the group a few
weeks ago??? ...... Was a sideboard by Liberty, same company as this
pewter piece.
Here's the sideboard image again .....
http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~mckinley/temp/sidebaord.jpg
you should notice a clock, left to the leaded glazed door on the
sideboard, that's a typical Liberty clock, this one doesn't look like
pewter but the same thing just a different metal.
As to cleaning a Liberty pewter piece ... NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! all it
needs is a wee dust and a LIGHT coating of wax from time to time.
If you search the archives of r.a .... with keyword "liberty" and use my
email < mcki...@netcomuk.co.uk> ... you should turn up the whole
thread, I even posted a small bio on Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty and his
company with a URL link to the current Liberty web site, this will give a
much more detail bio on the company's history.
Now don't be "sneering" at that the clock or even the sideboard, keep
your "sneering" for boring plain old crockery. :>))
Ronnie
=====
taking the 5th on discussion but sneering via my ass
========================================
Double D Auction
>>BTW, what exactly is "liberty" pewter?
>>Debbie
Charleen Bunjiovianna wrote:
>Liberty & Co., famed London retailers, perhaps best known in the
U.S. today
>for selling Liberty cotton prints (marvelous stuff, that).
Well-known for
>selling "Arts & Crafts" pewter, notably the Tudric line. Avidly
collected
>in some circles. I would post pointers to examples, but why
encourage people
>to sneer?
>Charleen
Now, now, I have my faults, but sneering is not one of them!
Have at it. I don't know much about the Arts & Crafts movement &
have never heard of Liberty pewter. I'm interested.
Debbie
Double D Auction
tremendously long thread that changed subjects several times, I
opted out & so missed the part on Liberty. Have now corrected
that.
Thanks for pointing out the thread. It doesn't pay to be in a
hurry in ra & is not the 1st time that I missed something of
importance.
Debbie
Tina Sutherland
Ronnie McKinley wrote:
> In rec.antiques, Richard Ward wrote:
>
> >The polished piece had the higher
> >bid when I looked, but the unpolished piece seemed to have a lot more
> >character, at least it fit my tastes more.
> >
>
> FWIW and IMO... the shiny polished piece looks brand new to me. I believe
> Liberty still sell stuff like this. The mark looks modern as well. Having
> said that, the seller isn't claiming anything, and the piece appears
> under "Collectibles:Metalware:Pewter" so all is fair, provided one
> considers this a collectible and really nothing else.
>
> The "unpolished" piece looks right to me, the mark looks right, and in
> the second image (looking/back from the handle) the colour and condition
> look fine to me. Archibald Knox, did design metal work for Liberty, from
> what I can see from the pictures this piece look A OK to me. I assume the
> person selling the pieces know precisely what it is and perhaps has even
> cross-referenced it in an old Liberty catalogue. Currently, it appears to
> have not meet the reserve. If it was offered to me, I would most
> certainly buy it *if I could* - at a price. The shiny piece, I would have
> no interest in at all - at any price.
>
> What do you think? <---- anyone
>
> Ronnie
> =====
Going by my "some things are wonderful and some aren't" method, the
unpolished one is wonderful. I have never been taken by silver, but this
makes me want to collect. Very cool.
The other one is O.K., but I'd never buy it to keep.
So we agree. But that's what I think.
Tina
Ronnie McKinley
mcat
<honest.a...@epsi.net> wrote:
<...>
>
>BTW, what exactly is "liberty" pewter?
>Debbie
>
>henk tattje wrote:
>>I've been told that liberty pewter, when sold was shining like
>silver.
>>of course after 90 odd years these items are a bit dull and
>grey.
>>My question is should these items be polished and how do I do
>that,
>>or should they be left as they are.
>>Your comments are highly appreciated
>>henk
>
Liberty & Co was founded in 1875 by Arthur Lasenby Liberty
(1843-1917). "In the late 1890's silverware and pewterware ventures
were added to Liberty's already multifarious activities under the
trade-names of 'Cymric' and 'Tudric' respectively."* If I'm not
mistaken, there was discussion not too long ago about Liberty, and
Ronnie (I believe) posted some pics.
mcat
*quoted from _Arts & Crafts in Brittain and America_ by Anscombe &
Gere, because I couldn't paraphrase it any better. This book has a
picture of a lovely two-branched pewter candlestick with enamel
insets, designed by Archibald Know for Liberty & Co., circa 1905, and
it looks like it gleams.
Michele Mauro
piece! <g> I love the non-shiny patina on it too!
Have fun, Michele
Tina Sutherland <char...@uswest.net> wrote in message
news:37FC1BAA...@uswest.net...
Gillam Kerley
Michele Mauro wrote:
>
> Tina, check the subject again - it's not a silver piece, but a pewter
> piece! <g>
I thought it was tin. ;-)
GK
Marshall Schuon
<las...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Tina, check the subject again - it's not a silver piece, but a pewter
>piece! <g> I love the non-shiny patina on it too!
>
>Have fun, Michele
______
Does Kat know about this? Come to think about it, where IS Kat?
Marshall
jon.d2...@ukonline.co.uk
>>>>Just don't clean **any** pewter pre-1840. The piece will be ruined
forever and no metalware dealer or museum will touch it...[Brian, are
you lurking still?] I can't get fussed about the Liberty stuff..this
has no place in a metalware collector's repetoire...and is for the
'arty farty' brigade.
We've been here many times before, but cleaning early pewter is like
sand-blasting a Georgian side-table...it is **NOT** a personal choice,
to do so is just sheer ignorance and vandalism.
Jon
Please remove the GWCWDT before replying by email.
***** Posted via the UK Online online newsreader *****
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about other online services we offer our subscribers.
jon.d2...@ukonline.co.uk
>Can't claim to know anything about Liberty Pewter, but I did a quick
>search on eBay, and came up with the following examples. (Please
note,
>these are not my auctions, nor do I know the persons who are
auctioning
>them, I'm just pointing to the for discussion purposes.)
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=176342844
>http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=175413802
>
>I thought it was interesting that one of the pieces had been polished
to
higher
>bid when I looked, but the unpolished piece seemed to have a lot
more
>character, at least it fit my tastes more.
>>>>>>Good grief!!!!!....you can see the SCRATCH marks on that second
piece it has been scrubbed so hard....I'd like to see what the owner
would think of this harsh treatment on their 'finish'
Jon
Please remove the SRLICB before replying by email.
Maryann
>> In rec.antiques, Richard Ward wrote:
>>
>> >The polished piece had the higher
>> >bid when I looked, but the unpolished piece seemed to have a lot more
>> >character, at least it fit my tastes more.
>> >
>>
>> FWIW and IMO... the shiny polished piece looks brand new to me. I believe
>> Liberty still sell stuff like this. The mark looks modern as well. Having
>> said that, the seller isn't claiming anything, and the piece appears
>> under "Collectibles:Metalware:Pewter" so all is fair, provided one
>> considers this a collectible and really nothing else.
>>
>> The "unpolished" piece looks right to me, the mark looks right, and in
>> the second image (looking/back from the handle) the colour and condition
>> look fine to me. Archibald Knox, did design metal work for Liberty, from
>> what I can see from the pictures this piece look A OK to me. I assume the
>> person selling the pieces know precisely what it is and perhaps has even
>> cross-referenced it in an old Liberty catalogue. Currently, it appears to
>> have not meet the reserve. If it was offered to me, I would most
>> certainly buy it *if I could* - at a price. The shiny piece, I would have
>> no interest in at all - at any price.
>>
>> What do you think? <---- anyone
>>
>> Ronnie
FWIW I think you are absolutely right. I love the unpolished piece.
(also ==thanks for the e-mail on Huguenots--I tried to e-mail you but
it came back undelivered!!)
BTW and OT did you know that polish/Polish is the only word in the
English language that changes its pronounciation when capitalized?
Maryann
Richard Ward
they are not the same word, despite the identical spelling.
Richard Ward
Ronnie McKinley
>(also ==thanks for the e-mail on Huguenots--I tried to e-mail you but
>it came back undelivered!!)
It shouldn't have Maryann ... mcki...@netcomuk.co.uk .. would you try it
again just out of interest, please.
>
>BTW and OT did you know that polish/Polish is the only word in the
>English language that changes its pronounciation when capitalized?
Egads, I hate riddles like that. That's me walking about the rest of the
day trying to think up some more, thanks a bunch. :-)))
Ronnie
=====
Marshall Schuon
wrote:
>Have to disagree with you on this one, polish and Polish are homonyms,
>they are not the same word, despite the identical spelling.
>
>Richard Ward
>
>
>Maryann wrote:
>>
>>
>> BTW and OT did you know that polish/Polish is the only word in the
>> English language that changes its pronounciation when capitalized?
>>
>> Maryann
______
Not PC to discriminate just because it's a homonym.
Marshall
Tina Sutherland
Michele Mauro wrote:
> Tina, check the subject again - it's not a silver piece, but a pewter
> piece! <g> I love the non-shiny patina on it too!
>
> Have fun, Michele
>
> Tina Sutherland <char...@uswest.net> wrote in message
> news:37FC1BAA...@uswest.net...
> >
> > Going by my "some things are wonderful and some aren't" method,
> the
> > unpolished one is wonderful. I have never been taken by silver, but
> this
> > makes me want to collect. Very cool.
> > The other one is O.K., but I'd never buy it to keep.
> > So we agree. But that's what I think.
> > Tina
> >
It's a good thing folks are out there watching for me....I'm a
danger.
Tina - I'll say it first...shite for brains
Cyanogirl
Marshall, martial. Homonyms are easier than cynonyms.