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-----Need Silver Replating of Eva-Trio Sauce Pot
Q. I have a copper sauce pot plated with silver and that was produced by a company in Denmark called Eva-Trio. This pot is plated with silver on its interior only. The plating has worn off in several places at the bottom of the pot and I would like to have it re-plated. I contacted Eva-Trio via e-mail and was told to take it to a jeweler specialzing in silver.
Trouble is, I have taken the pot to several local platers and Jewelers who all say it can't be done. This is hard to believe since the manufacturer did it to begin with!
Anybody have any ideas as to where I might specifically go to have this work done or if there are specialized job-shops that do this kind of work?
Puzzled Home-Owner - Laguna Beach, California, USA
2005
A. Hi Bill,
I struggle to find a date on your post, so please excuse me if it is too late. If you found a solution to your problem, would you please share it in this thread?
I have the same problem with a beautiful silver plated copper pan of the Eva Trio Gourmet series of the late 70s. The former owners used regular cleaning methods and as a result the plating is scratched and in some places the copper shows through. Just like in your case, our local silversmiths are reluctant to do the job. The situation gets even more complicated considering that we need food safe re-plating, and companies that do whatever galvanization on an industrial scale use cyanide silver salts - another reason they would not be suitable to perform the task. One silversmith suggested that the whole plating should be stripped to bare copper, and then silver plated in full - something which will be very expensive and still cyanide will have to be present - they just don't use the old techniques involving silver nitrate or chloride anymore as they do not produce the same results in terms of finish quality, color and durability.
The only solution I feel I am left with is to use one of those "silver plating solutions" that are mass advertised on the internet. Those will leave a very thin and rather temporary (depending on the use of the object) layer of silver, which in the case of copper as base metal should do fine to restore to some extent at least the looks of the silver plating. I doubt it will do much about scratches though, so I just hope I can get a layer of silver good enough to allow safe cooking with additional precautions.
I will give it a try as I already ordered a bottle of the solution, and will give you more feedback on the results. There is hardly any info about restoring silver plated copper cookware, so anything we can share in terms of experience will be very welcome.
Best regards,
Andrey
- Sofia, Bulgaria
A. Hi Andrey.
The fact that cyanide is used in silver plating does not mean that cyanide is left on the object, nor does it render the object unsafe. Virtually all silver plating is done from cyanide based plating baths, and has been for over a hundred years. Dangerous materials are used in most manufacturing processes but are not left on the finished object. If you are still worried about very small remnants of cyanide, note that lima beans, almonds, and apple pips also contain low and safe levels of cyanide.
But are you sure that this cookware was silver plated? I am not familiar with silver plated cooking service, but tin plated copper is relatively common. The tin is not applied by electroplating, but by a hot wiping process discussed in good detail in letters 12792 "Retinning and care of copperware", and 25553 "Historical hand re-tinning of copper cooking utensils". Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
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