Vintage Silverplate Trophy
Repair & Restoration
Vintage Silverplated Trophy REstoration
The results of this restoration are really stunning. The trophy has been in the customer’s family for many generations and they wanted to improve the appearance and condition so that it could be passed on to a grandchild. In the before photo, you can see how crooked, bent, worn, and tarnished this trophy was. The first step was to clean and polish it. Polishing helps to better see the dents. In the below before and after photos, you can see how the shape of the cup was improved. After the dents were removed as best as possible, the trophy was sent to the silver platers. The customer also chose to have the plaque gold plated. The wooden base was sanded and then painted satin black. Restorations like this can be expensive and time-consuming but it is worth it for a family heirloom that has sentimental value.
The customer tells me that “the trophy was awarded to her Grandfather in 1930. Her Dad kept it and brought it out west when he retired.” “The damage started on the move west when the dish [trophy cup] became tilted.” “So if the trophy makes it down to my granddaughter then she’ll be able to say it was her great-great-great grandfather’s trophy.” “Thank you for restoring our family heirloom,”
Vintage Sailboat Trophy - Repaired & Polished
This sailboat trophy arrived broken and badly repaired at three areas. To avoid the expense of new silver plating, I did all the repairs with sterling silver completely rebuilding the mast support with sterling silver tubing and sterling silver wire. It was an ingenious solution that looked fabulous. The damage to the sail (from the previous repair efforts) was covered with sterling silver sheet so it looked the reinforced sail corners.
Vintage Trophy with Yellow Aged Lacquer and Broken Handle - Repaired & Refinished
This vintage trophy arrived with lacquer that was aged and yellowed. After the lacquer was removed you could see the original silverplate color. I spent a great deal of time rebuilding a section of the handle that was lost. Because I used sterling silver to rebuild the handle, the repair matched the silverplated finish. Finally, the handle was attached.
CLICK HERE to view a step-by-step example of a trophy repair.
Repair of Vintage Silverplate Athletic Trophy
This vintage silverplate athletic trophy from 1933 arrived broken where the trophy cup attaches to the base. One of the handles was also pulling off because the trophy cup was out of round. The silverplated white metal was very soft and thin so I created tapered brass tubing for core support along with additional structural elements (not visible) to hold the cup upright. At the juncture of the cup to the base, I added a sterling silver wire to conceal and strengthen the solder joint. Then the silverplating was carefully polished. There was a lot of wear on the silverplating from a hard life and many previous repairs, however, the final result is very rewarding. This trophy retains all its 80+ years of character.
REPAIR OF 20TH-CENTURY SILVERPLATE WATER PITCHER TROPHY
This silverplate water pitcher was a trophy. (Notice the screws below the feet in the right photo for attaching it to a base.) Unfortunately, the owner took it to a welder for repair and he melted two sections of the handle instantly. Taking silverplate or sterling to a welder is a mistake. A welding torch is too hot! Welders do not have the skill or tools for working on sterling and silverplate objects.
This water pitcher trophy is silverplate on a "white metal" that melts at a very low temperature. When the customer brought this water pitcher about a 1/2" at the top of the handle and about 1" at the bottom of the handle were missing. This is visible in the left photo. As you can see the handle was also hollow and very thin.
I reconstructed the handle with low-temperature solder "carving the repaired area" to resemble my guess of the original shape. Fortunately, the silver plating was in good enough condition. The repaired trophy looks good. (Right photo.)
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