Vintage view: Looking after the family silver (and copper, and brass...)

Kya deLongchamps says there is a difference betweena cleaning and a determined polish

IT’S haunting to see some people cheerfully dredge their metal pieces from a torn shopping bag on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. As the object ignites into view, how often the light gutters in the eyes of the expert, followed by the mournful, falling intonation ‘oh — I see, you’ve polished it’.

The specialist seems almost indifferent to picking the thing up after this polite bit of covert scolding, and prods it around the velvet-topped table before giving the bad news. Value has been diminished with too much love and hefty applications of Brasso.