AROUND HOME : Notes on Quilts, Savoy Vases and Oriental Rugs : Silver Solution

THERE IS NOTHING more satisfying than setting your table with your grandmother’s best silver. And nothing is more discouraging than taking the silver out of the chest and seeing how tarnished it has become. It’s enough to make you put it right back and use the stainless steel. Because in the list of the world’s dreadful jobs, polishing silver rates right up there.

And then the Silver Solution came along. This remarkable stuff not only makes old silver shine almost embarrassingly brightly but also restores worn sterling by replating it with a layer of silver.

It’s easy to use. You apply the solution with a cloth, wipe it off and buff. When the film comes off, you are left with a piece of silver that looks almost new (but not too new).

If you’ve a mind to, you can even use it to silver-plate ordinary objects. The folder that comes with the bottle suggests the following creative uses for the solution: silver-plated soap dishes, paper clips, keys, faucets and doorknobs. They even suggest that you make “great-looking gifts” by silver-plating sardine cans.

And if you happen to have been born with a gold spoon in your mouth, and you find that the spoon is losing its luster of late, don’t despair. The manufacturers promise the imminent arrival of the Gold Solution.

The Silver Solution, $25, is available at all Pottery Barn stores.