Restoring buttons and buckles

[Cape Hunter]

I thought I would post this image of a couple of 1700's dandy buttons and buckle found detecting. When left looking as they do coming out of the ground, not very interesting to general public. I decided to clean and gold leafed the buttons. The buckle had a small amount of Silver leaf on it, so I used some white gold leaf on that. These were not the best buttons I have found. But worth experimenting. Sort of gives a closer appearance to what these dazzling buttons were about. I'm in the art business and restoring gold frames from the 1700's is done all the time.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[alloy_II]

The majority of antiquated items like taps and what looked like chrome bumpers and grills were actually nickle plated.

I prefer the look of nickle, top image nickle, bottom chrome.

 

[Cape Hunter]

The majority of antiquated items like taps and what looked like chrome bumpers and grills were actually nickle plated.

I prefer the look of nickle, top image nickle, bottom chrome.

View attachment 2002662
View attachment 2002663

Agreed, Nickel has a warmer under tone. Chrome is cold blue.

 

[Gene Mean]

Those look great. Good idea!