Cleaning an Old Dr. Pepper ("Good Luck" - Billiken) Watch Fob

[TreasureGuy25]

I found this old Dr. Pepper watch fob about a week back. It turns out its fairly valuable (in perfect condition of course), I don't think I'd sell it, I would just like to make it look a little nicer for display. I tried some baking soda and a low-percentage peroxide (CVS brand, maybe 3%)... didn't do much. Here's a picture of what it should look like

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/5482574

Any ideas on how to clean it? I think its brass but could be completely wrong... its pretty heavy. Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

TGuy25 - Ted

[Iron Patch]

Soak in straight lemon juice and brush it every few minutes. It's probably the most forgiving process to deal with the crud that's on there. Just keep an eye on it and should be better than when you started. The hardest gritty crud on a brass item is near impossible to remove so hope it's not quite that bad. There's always at least a little risk in cleaning something but I think that one is veryu worth taking a shot at it.

[gary s fl]

If the lemon juice doesn't work you could try some CLR but keep close tabs on it. If CLR or similar calcium removal product is going to work you should see some change within 5-10 min.. If it does seem to be working you could keep repeating the process. In any case I think you'll need to use a toothpick to get the crud out of the deep recesses. One thing about using a CLR type of product is that it can drastically change the color of it. If the CLR product doesn't faze it then your last option would be electrolysis. I used electrolysis on a watch fob that I wasn't sure was worth messing with but I was pleased with the results even with the minor pitting. Also, the color was too grayish for my liking so I used brown shoe polish to tone it. There is a brown coin toning product available. Sorry I didn't take a before pic of the fob to show how bad it was. Let's us know how it goes.

[Iron Patch]

If the lemon juice doesn't work you could try some CLR but keep close tabs on it. If CLR or similar calcium removal product is going to work you should see some change within 5-10 min.. If it does seem to be working you could keep repeating the process. In any case I think you'll need to use a toothpick to get the crud out of the deep recesses. One thing about using a CLR type of product is that it can drastically change the color of it. If the CLR product doesn't faze it then your last option would be electrolysis. I used electrolysis on a watch fob that I wasn't sure was worth messing with but I was pleased with the results even with the minor pitting. Also, the color was too grayish for my liking so I used brown shoe polish to tone it. There is a brown coin toning product available. Sorry I didn't take a before pic of the fob to show how bad it was. Let's us know how it goes.

Any type of chemical reaction incuding the lemon will probably turn it to a brownish orange