Letter 23506

Q. Finding "the gold solution" for jewelry

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I am looking for a product and the company seems to have disappeared. It is a gold plating bath for jewelry made by Sheffield Plate Polish Company. Wondering if anyone has found a source for this company.

Joan Hacker
- Wyckoff, New Jersey, USA

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Ed. note: If the immersion gold plating bath is available from ebay on the day you read this, this link will show it -->
If the link is to a get-rich-quick scheme, ebay has no gold plating solution so they substituted their most popular ad.

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I too am looking for the Sheffield Plate Polish Company. 20 years ago I purchased "The Silver Solution" ultimate care and maintenance kit from a local jewelry firm. I have since not been able to find the product and started this internet search where I came across the company name in respect to the gold plating kit. The box I have for the silver kit makes it plain that this is a British product but a booklet enclosed in the box contains an attribution "Sheffield Plate Polish Company Ltd. (U.S.) 1987" There is a UPC on the package " 0 8920300100 7"

On the bottles of solution is the following address: Sheffield Plate Polish Company, Ltd. (U.S.) 1600 Orrington Ave. Evanston, IL 60201 USA A subsidiary of Sheffco, Inc. any information on the company or product would be welcome.

Betsy Cornwell
- Acton, Ontario

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I am an antiques dealer and have used The Silver Solution in the past to restore silver pieces that are not to damaged for the product Silver Solution to repair to an acceptable state for resale. The store which used to carry this product has closed its doors and I am looking for another source for this product or another product of comparable quality and price.

The product is non-toxic and actually added a layer of silver to the piece rather than removed a layer exposing a new layer of silver. I am very satisfied with the outcome of this product as well as my customers.

I appreciate any information that anyone can send to me.

Thanks,

Dana A. Mills
antiques dealer - Kinston, North Carolina
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I have been looking for "The Silver Solution" made by Sheffield Plate Polish Company, Ltd. (Inc.) a subsidiary of Sheffco, Inc. I purchased it quite a few years ago at Marshall Fields but they no longer carry it. My silver is in a desperate need of a bath. Has anyone found a place to purchase this wonderful product?

Audrey Wittrup
artist - Birmingham, MI, USA

Hi, folks. We located at least one source for "The Silver Solution", and found nine other resilvering products. But it became impossible to maintain current contact info for these products scattered across dozens of similar threads on a 50,000-page site, so we've created a FAQ, "Silver Plating at Home" with current sourcing info, and moved all contact info there. We hope you'll find it convenient & informative.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

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I want some Sheffield Gold Solution , gold plating bath. I used to have a gold plating solution in which one could dip a metal object and it would plate the object. It was called "The Gold Solution - Gold plating Bath", made by Sheffield Plate Polish Co. It plates 24K Gold onto gold, goldplate, sterling silver, silverplate, copper, brass, bronze and nickel items. I would like very much to get some more of this solution if possible.

Beverly Ensign
Hobbyist - Forsyth, GA, USA

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I too have been looking for Sheffield Plate Polish Co., Ltd. and have tried other products that made the same claims but were not nearly as good. Has anyone found them? I called the Chamber of Commerce in Evansville, Ind a number of years ago and they knew of the company but not where to find them.

I called the post office and was very rudely treated by someone there. I guess they didn't like my southern accent! Said unless I had their address to send a letter to there in Indiana they could not give me a forwarding address. They would not give me the OLD address, either!! Has anyone found them?

Banna Leeson
- Florence, South Carolina, USA

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Has anyone used the Silver Soultion or Nu Silver before?

My fiancee has a ring that was silver plated and some of the plating has worn away and the base metal is showing through and I would like to know if either of these products would be able to help.

Alan Harvey
- Wakefield, West yorkshire, UK

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Well, I followed the link off this webpage and bought NuSilver last week. Just got the bottle today. Is it suppose to be all white? Doesn't do anything and smells like soap. Very strange. Was I ripped off? I'm calling EKitchenGadget.com tomorrow! Does anyone know what NuSilver is suppose to look like and does it work?

Dan Robertson
- Burlington, CT

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I bought several kits from Nieman Marcus. I never was able to get it to work. Perhaps the base metal was on their no-work list but it looks like copper to me and should work. I think that's why they no longer sell it.

Derek Hoggett
- Katy, Texas, USA

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Has anyone found the Silver Solution? Is NuSilver a ripoff? I used SS for years and finally exhausted my supply. It is/was a wonderful product. Is there a supplier out there who can help?

Pat Ferrigno
- Winton, CA, USA

January 25, 2006

I just tried to find Nu-Silver using the link you provided. It took me to iKitchen.com where I found the gold solution (though under a different name), but could not find Nu-Silver or anything like it. Do you have any other sources?

Arlene Bergenthal
- Beachwood, OH, USA

Yes, we had links to ekitchengadget.com and ikitchen.com and many other places over the last few years, that no longer work and are now removed, folks. These kind of products are marketed through rather unstable channels, so we've spent a huge amount of time over the years trying to source these products and changing the links again and again and again (not just on this page but on dozens of similar inquiry pages). So we've removed the scattered links and moved all contact info to a new FAQ with sourcing info. We hope you find it convenient and informative.

Regards,

Ted Mooney
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

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I have recently had to clear out my late mother's flat and came across a bottle of Sheffco "The Silver Solution". I have yet to try out what is left, but the instructions refer to other products - "Pure Silver" and "Silver Maintenance Solution". The leaflet says the system is fully patented and the address for the company is given as 50-52 Chancery Lane London WC2A 1HL. The telephone number - then 01-405-8868 Now would be 020-7405-8868 is defunct. I seem to remember when studying law in the area, that there were silver vaults in Chancery lane in the 1980's. I have lots of items that could do with this stuff, and will investigate further.

John Ross Stuart
- Whitstable, Kent

We don't challenge the claim that they have patents, John. But immersion silvering is hundreds of years old and there are many other brands of immersion silvering solutions if the brand you were looking for is defunct.

Regards,

Ted Mooney
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

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This isn't the gold solution but I found it. It looks to be nearly the same. Haven't used it but I also have been looking for a little over a year for the Gold Solution
www.medallionprod.com/metalcare.html

Jeff Pfeiffer
- Ferndale,WA, U.S.A.

April 2008

Thanks, Jeff, but I called Medallion in April 2008 and they are "completely out of stock, and will be for several months".

Regards,

Ted Mooney
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

May 19, 2008

I did find some of that gold solution by Sheffields and it was about 20 years old. I bought it off ebay. I guess it was so old it didn't work anymore, so beware.

Shirley Wadie
- Sterling Heights, Michigan, USA

September 6, 2008

FYI - For those of you interested in The Gold Solution Product for gold plating (jewelry especially) that has been out there for years and are having a hard time finding it, google the company Medallion Products, Inc. (Chicago Illinois). They have gold plating products for sale, and were more than likely the distributors(?) of The Gold Solution at one time.

Good Luck !

Deidra Jackson
- Kent, WA

September 10, 2008

Thanks, Deidra, but have you actually bought this yourself recently or are we just reprinting old stuff, going 'round & 'round in circles?

As I mentioned above, I contacted them in April and they said they were out of stock and would be for several months. So I tried today and their website is unconfigured (www.medallionprod.com = Error 403, Access Forbidden!) and their customer service number (1-800-REPLATE) just rings endlessly :-(

Rechecking other ideas today:

Home Shopping Network = Sold Out
http://www.collectorssecret.com/gold.html = Error 404, Not Found!

I can't tell you how many hours I've wasted over the last five years trying to keep this product sourced for our readers, adding then removing links to distributor after distributor after distributor :-)

If someone actually buys this stuff after September 10, we'd love to hear where you actually got it!

Thanks again,

Ted Mooney
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

October 31, 2008

I use to work for a Dental Lab that used a Gold plating solution for partial plates. I poured the gold plating material in a pan, heated it to a boil then touched a zinc rod to the object I was plating. It turned to a beautiful gold, then I let the solution cool and poured it back into the bottle with no waste. I can't locate this product anywhere. Any help would be appreciated,

DENNIS DAVIDSON
JEWELRY DESIGNER - DALLAS, TX.

February 25, 2009

I phoned Medallion at 6 p.m. and reached one of their reps. The website is up but didn't seem to work, so I phoned. Their hours are 9-5. If all goes well, my order will be placed tomorrow.

Kay Keller
- Stoughton, Wi USA

July 25, 2009

I checked Medallion's website and see the gold-plating kit. Will it stick to organic things, like a pine cone?

Rebecca Carey
- Lawton, Oklahoma

July 28, 2009

Hi, Rebecca. No it won't; nothing will not deposit at all.

Plating non-conductive things like pine cones is quite difficult, but we do have an FAQ on Plating Organic Materials, which will at least be a start. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

August 2, 2009

Ted,

Thanks very much! I appreciate your website.

Rebecca

Rebecca Carey
- Lawton, Oklahoma, USA