EWWWW!!!
To each his own...I guess!
I wonder why someone would paint a nice brass chandelier or a great old 1900 oak fireplace surround, or a vintage armoire.
But flatware? Guessing it was someone's ill conceived idea of up dated...
Paint stripper should be safe to use to get it back to stuff real people use.

Thanks Linda--I'll give it a try. The reason I bought the batch of silverware was I needed knives! They can't look any worse.

Maybe the "artist" didn't like the look either and that's why the other pieces were spared. Strange...

TSP works wonders to remove various things off silver. I use about 1/4 cup in a sink of hot, hot water. (no, it won't hurt silver, this is what all the high end silver shops use to degrease silver before they attempt to clean it)

Somebody must've been married to my husband. I wouldn't put it past him to use a nice piece of silverware to stir a can of paint. I caught him snitching one of my Irish linen tea towels to use as a shop rag.

So the wife complains to hubby that she would like to unload the set of silver and about how many pieces have gone missing, and he sneaks down to the basement and rescues them from his toolchest.

Painting is a new one on me! I'd be careful about soaking older knife handles in super hot water, though; you don't want it to inside. Although at this point, I guess it can't be worse.

Are you sure it's paint? Very tarnished pieces get bluish & pinkish look depending on what metal is mixed with the silver. For old coins now they want them to have a "Patina"which means a pinkish, coppery, blueish, bronze look!! Used to want them to look like newly minted, how times have changed!! Does anyone know if it hurts(damages) silver to leave it like that. I have a tid- bit 2 tiered tray that is fancy & pain to clean. Maybe fori should just take a little silver cleaner & soft toothbrush & see if the pink & blue goes away.

O no, it's paint. I know what you mean about the bluish pinkish (I have some of that around). It's paint, or something stuck on there. It has edges, and can be chipped off a little bit. And the color is that almost nice but not quite pink and blue you see in old bathrooms when you peel the wallpaper, or in old small town department store restrooms...

Calliope's thought was my first one. I'd bet the original owner used some pieces as paint stirrers, wiped them off well but didn't clean the paint out of the grooves.

If you were stirring somethign....why would you use the handle....unless the blade got wiped clean and whoever was the stirrer didn't bother with the handle....and then stirred different things.
Are they enough alike to have an "on purpose" feeling?
Linda c

There are three with paint, and it's mostly gone so I can't tell if it was intentional. I guess it's possible that they were used for stirring paint, with really messy hands since the paint goes all the way to the tips, and only the blades got completely cleaned. With three different colors. I can picture it happening to me.

They are pretty scruffy-looking now. Probably only good for stirring paint now. Such a senseless act! (So, anyone feel like ballparking the production date on this pattern? I have identified it, under three different labels, but don't have a date. It's National Silver Co., pattern NTS29)

It looks 20-ish to me....but I sure don't know.
Really does look like silver polish which stayed on too long.
Try ammonia...don't soak but just put some on a paper towel and let it sit for 30 minutes and see if it softens the gunk.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: silverplate patterns

I wasn't kidding when I said I've found some of my lovely old collectibles in the wood shop and the greenhouses, and used for things like paint stirring tools. When I questioned him WHY????? he would use something like that like a disposable tool, his answer would be that he knew better than to use something we eat off. argh. In his mind, it's just 'old stuff' and I guess he thinks I keep them packed away for the fun of it. LOL.

When my mother passed away, I took her old silver chest home because of all the lovely memories I had polishing it before holiday meals. I was shocked when I opened it to find in its place a newer set of stainless steel utensils. To a woman of her age, I suppose she thought the old silverplate was outdated, and hard to maintain. So, she evidently had sold it and replaced it. What I'm getting at, is when something is older but not antique.......not everybody places the same value on it as those of us who love it because of that fact. So, it's not kept pristine, or even kept.

It may be old polish, but it really wouldn't surprise me if it's been pressed into service as a painting tool. ;-)

My aunt lived to be 109 & a few yrs before she died I asked her for 1 of her spoons, if she didn't mind parting with 1. We always had her wonderful homemade raspberry jam & I thought it would be a great keepsake. She looked at me & said"Oh, honey, I through out all my old silverware as the kids got me a lovely all matching set of stainless steel. (It was my cousins that had bought it- my aunt didn't have any kids of her own) She felt so bad, I told her even better than a spoon would be some of her recipes so I did get a couple. Seems she never wrote them down & we had to make the ginger cookies so she could figure out what she used. I watched her make bread which she did every other day until she was over 100. But mine just didn't turn out like hers. She had a "feel" for it. Spoon would have been nice because each was different & ruffled bowl of spoon & fancy stuff on handles, she had the prettiest spoons ever & hope someone digging in the trash at the dump found them. After she broke her hip had to go into a home with her hubby. He died before she did. I have a Jonquil pattern spoon & couple with roses that are similar to what she had. My MIL started looking for me after that & I inherited couple from my grandmother with roses on them with the fancy bowls.

It's funny how things get old and replaceable when they're perfectly fine. my spouse and I both got hand-me-down housewares when we went to college. We have some nice retro items that our mothers and late grandmothers would probably be appalled to learn we still have.

This pattern has no sentimental value (or actual value I'm sure). I ran across a nice cheap set of it when I was looking for some salad forks for my inherited sterling and I just liked it. Maybe my kids will develop some nice memories of it--I've even found kid size pieces which just amuse the heck out of me for some reason.

I still have some REALLY old tin bakeware an elderly spinster gave us when we were first married, along with most of the cooking books. I still use it often, and never saw any reason to replace it, and that was forty four years ago. We were thrilled to get hand me down items to set up housekeeping. We lived in a little flat above a parking garage and it didn't even have a bathroom in it. I don't think it's done like that anymore.

Was watching HGTV the other night when I couldn't get sleepy and the young engage couple were looking at half million dollar homes and turning their nose up because they only had one wash basin in the sink of their en suite. LOL Yet, they were still living at home with their parents and paying off their student loans.