There is a box somewhere in most houses — the back of a sideboard, the top of a wardrobe — holding silver that has gone the colour of a storm cloud. Inherited cutlery, a christening cup, a teapot that nobody has poured from this decade. It looks beyond saving. It very rarely is. Tarnish is not damage; it is a thin chemical film that forms when silver meets sulphur in the air, and most of it lifts off with patience and a soft cloth.
Before any of it goes back on a table this winter, it is worth knowing which method suits which piece, because the fastest trick is also the one most likely to ruin something precious.
Start far gentler than you think
Begin with warm water and a little mild washing-up liquid, a soft cloth or a very soft brush for the crevices of a pattern, and a thorough rinse. A surprising amount of what looks like tarnish is actually grease, candle wax and dust that has settled into the engraving. Dry immediately and completely with a clean, dry cloth — water left on silver is what starts the next round of spotting.
If genuine tarnish remains, the traditional route is a dedicated silver polish or a treated polishing cloth, worked in straight lines rather than circles, with a fresh section of cloth as it blackens. It is slow and faintly meditative and it gives you complete control, which matters on anything detailed. Polish removes a microscopic layer of metal each time, so this is not a weekly job; it is a before-the-guests-come job.
