A & E PIDGEON AUCTIONS & APPRAISALS
Nova Scotia Auctions -- Cape Breton Auctions
Canadian Maritime Auctioneers
Donald & Verna Pidgeon (Don & Sam)
info@pidgeonauctions.com
CLEANING ORNAMENTS
& DECORATIVE DISHES
Have you got
some beautiful fragile pieces that you are always afraid to wash in case
they get damaged? Fear no more...we' ve found a way to clean those
lovely Royal Doultons and other dainties! Take several old rags or old
worn-out towels and place them on a counter or old table that you don't care
if it get stained. Place your good Doultons and other fine items on top in
an upright position. Then spray, spray, spray with Windex until they
are sopping wet and the dirt and grime is running down. Keep spraying
with Windex till they are perfectly clean and allow to drip dry on the rags
or towels. They will come out sparkling. Lay them over on either
side for ten minutes or so, so anything caught in grooves will drip off
also, and it won't hurt to sit the items on clean paper towels for a while
also to make sure they are perfectly dry before placing in a china cabinet
so there will be no water stain on your good cabinet.
We are not advertising Windex, but the fact is--it works for almost anything...it's the most widely used product in
our business...cleans cups and saucers and other dishes fast--a quick
squirts and wipe with paper towels--everybody washes dishes they buy at an
auction before they use them anyway.
Now don't be fooled by other brands...only the Windex really does the
trick! (Have you seen the movie "The Greek Wedding" where
old Papa used it as a cure-all? I don't know about zits but I do know
about antique fineries and Windex really is that good!
When we were setting up for an auction in Cape Breton a
couple years ago--household contents that came from a mining town, we ran
across some beautiful large bulge glass picture frames in the attic.
If you are not familiar with a mining town, there is coal dust right in the
air they breathe, not to mention their houses and everything else in the
area. These pictures had been in the attic over a hundred years and the coal
dust and grime had adhered so firmly to the bulge glass in the frames, we
could not even tell if there were pictures in them. Donnie went to the
general store nearby but could not get any Windex there and so he purchased a "no name"
brand window cleaner and we doused them. The hardened coal dust wouldn't even budge.
They Donnie drove seven miles to another store where he could purchase some
"real"
Windex....one application loosened all the guck and grime and coal dust and
a second application left the pictures sparkling clean to reveal beautiful
old ancestral photos.
Be careful when applying Windex heavy to such a grimy
picture, though--you must hold the picture upside down with rags on the
floor beneath and get someone to kneel down and squirt the Windex on from
below and allow to drip while in the upside down position and even wipe
while in that position. A heavy application on a picture in an upright
position can run under the glass and leave a high water mark on a good
picture.
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Another great cleaner we just recently ran across is Orange Glo--not the
cleaner, but the spray oil. Their sprayers\ bottles are no
good--they spray too much at once, so you will have to take the contents out
of the original container & put it in an old Windex spray bottle to use
successfully. At first, you may think the top will not come off the
Orange Glo--it must be child proofed or something like that, for its really
difficult to get off, but a screw driver up under the cap is the answer (or
a really strong hand).
Any old wooden antique furniture that looks dry and
parched gets a new lease on life with a douse of this.
It's also good on things such as the old sad
irons or cast iron pots--gives them a nice shine to replace that old dull
look.
Also good on rubber--like the advertising rubber tire
ashtrays, etc...makes them shiny black.