Cleaning Bronze Statuaries

[Rick Bergeron - CPF]

Is there any special procedure used to clean everyday, household grime that builds up on bronze statuaries over time? A customer has several Remingtons, keeps the loose dust cleaned off using dustcloths and swiffers; but wanted to do a thorough cleaning and with minimal chance of damage.

I didn't want to show my ignorance and just tell them to use ivory soap and water in the kitchen sink.

[Framerguy]

Rick,

If they were mine (which they aren't) and of the limited edition version (which would make me jealous), I wouldn't clean (scrub with anything) them at all. Regular dusting should keep them clean unless the person is a smoker or cooks a great amount of fried foods or has a coal oil furnace or ............. well, maybe I WOULD clean them occasionally!

I would think that Dawn or Ivory liquid in luke warm water would do the trick as most of them have a protective finish sprayed on them. If the manufacturers didn't spray them, they would eventually form that really good looking bronze patina on them and we couldn't have THAT now, could we??

(Just a little bit of manufacturer's sarcasm, if you don't mind.)

If they are part of the limited editions that were cast about 15 years ago, I wouldn't scrub them with anything. (If they were mine.) I would let a $4000 limited edition Remington bronze age naturally................ if I had one.

Framerguy

[MatFramer]

I am with Framerguy on this one. I don't think you would want to touch that beautiful bronze patina that only comes with age. Nope.......don't touch, don't even think it!!!! :D

[wpfay]

As Framerguy pointed out, it depends on what the stuff you want to remove is.
You may wish to use a bristle brush to dislodge any loose debris. Beyond that you wouldn't want to use anything that would affect the patina (acidic based cleaners), or polishing agents, nor would you want to use anything that would soften any protective finish applied to the bronze (solvents).

[preservator]

Anything beyond gentle, dry cleaning should be
done by a conservator. Patinas are quite fragile
and if anything happens that doesn't please the
owner, it could be quite costly. The rewards for
work like this do not justify the risks.

Hugh

[Rogatory]

I used to work in a bronze foundry in a previous life. You must handle them; just dusting off the bronzes is not enough.
What I mean is touch them and rub them, it will enhance the patina, the oils from your hands will help clean them, but please don’t use cleaners on them, you MIGHT harm the patina.
There is a bronze museum that has a sign as you walk in that say's "please handle everything!" they know the more people touch the statues the prettier they will become.

-David-

[Rick Bergeron - CPF]

TNX folks,

My customer works does work cleaning houses and the owner just asked them about cleaning a bit more thoroughly and dropped comments regarding value in the mid 5 digit range. After these comments, if it were me, I'd stick with the swiffers.