How to clean / shine pewter?

10 years ago

I bought in the last few weeks several pieces of antique pewter. They are from Belgium and France . The color on a few is very dull. I would like to know if anything can be done to buff them up a bit. I don't expect them to be shiny like silver. It would be nice to have the high points look a bit brighter, though, to give contrast with the deeper details.

Thanks!

Comments (6)

lazy_gardens
10 years ago
Silver polish will work.
triciae
10 years ago
Be careful. Pewter is not like silver. You can easily go from "cleaning" to "ruined for resale purposes" quite quickly. Pewter develops a beautiful patina over the decades. Personally, I don't like to see it "polished".

/tricia
moonshadow
10 years ago
Ditto what tricia said. I just wash in mild dish soap and water & then towel dry. Do you have any photos?
joyce_6333
10 years ago
When I lived in Philadelphia, I lived next door to a gentleman who worked in pewter, and he said to just hand wash with mild soap, rinse, and be sure to dry. But you also need to know what your pewter was originally supposed to look like. Was it shiny, or satin finish like antique pewter, did it contain lead? If you do use a polish, make sure it is especially for pewter, or it could scratch it. Pewter contains tin which is very soft.
texasredhead
10 years ago
I have two pewter steins that I purchased from an artisan in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Pewter can not be "shined" because of its metal make up.
texasredhead
10 years ago
More recent pewter is 85+% of tin with about 1% copper and 5% antimony. Older European pewter might contain some Lead which would account for the very dull finish. Lead has not been used in American pewter for some time especially if is used for cups, steins, plates, etc. Very simply, trying to polish pewter would be futile.