Posted 7 years ago
laurieann007
(1 item)
Recently acquired this large and somewhat heavy, metal spittoon. I guess it's made of copper and/or brass. The metals appear to be of slightly different shades of the same color,so it is not just a bad image shot. I'm assuming the greenish color "splotches" , are corrosion, from the elements and lack of care. It is somewhat heavy and when dropped from a short distance it wobbles in place, for a quick moment, but always lands straight up, standing on its bottom, so I assume this is to hold it upright, avoiding tobacco spit spillage. A small silver colored rectangular tag, is imprinted with the words 'Goldfield Hotel
Goldfield Nevada'....
Any information pertaining to this item would help my understanding of it's personal story. As I know very little about antiques, and even less about spittoons :)
I have not attempted to clean the outside or inside of the piece, until I am advised of what products and tools would be the safest and un-abrasive. Also any information about the Goldfield Hotel, if it ever existed would be helpful too. Thanks in advance for any input
A number of years ago the wife and I collected embossed spittoons. We found that the better quality ones were always weighted in the base/bottom. We had one that got damaged and learned that the weight was simply a sealed compartment in the bottom full of sand. For cleaning them it pretty much depended the condition. Liquid brasso and cotton balls were usually what we used. Really bad stuff we also used Mother's Mag Wheel polish. You can also make a paste from water and baking soda that is gentle enough to not scratch the surface. Always do a test on the bottom or very low side first to see how it is working, under side of the top flare is another place you can test your cleaner without it being obvious. If you plan to use a buffing wheel make sure it is low speed. Using high speed will make burn marks that are not fun to correct.