How to polish a silver (?) cup

LowRob16

Good morning
Last year I won a cup at a dinner, and have to give this cup back at tonight's annual dinner.
It like a trophy and the metal is meant to be silver coloured, but looks a bit 'red'. My mum would normally have cleaned/polished it for me, but having moved out, I haven't got that luxury any more!
Do you have any advice for me? Could I use stardrops, or do I need to get some proper polish?
TIA
Lowri x

squeaky

The bad news is that the "bit red" stuff is likely to be copper. It sounds like your trophy is silver plated copper (very common) and previous holders have polished it so diligently that they have worn away the plating.

We have a couple of threads on cleaning silver in the Cleaning section of the MEGA Index sticky at the top of the forum which may be of help, but your "red bits" are a different problem altogether.

It would be worth contacting the trophy owners to let them know about this and they can then arrange to have it properly restored.

LowRob16

Thanks for your reply.
I tried to gently 'rub' the cup with a yellow duster cloth, and the 'redness' seems to be getting less. It just looks a bit dull.
I seem to remember my mum using somthing called Silvo, like Brasso but for silver I guess.
Would getting some of this be a good idea?

squeaky

I'd say that a proper silver polish would be the best bet. If you have a trophy shop near you, you could take it in and ask their advice, and they'll certainly be able to supply a suitable polish.