Hinge Repairs
Hinge Repair on Silverplate
Coffeepots and Teapots
This silverplate teapot and coffeepot needed the hinges reattached, a new hinge pin for the teapot hinge and dents removed. In addition, the base of the coffeepot was bent and cracked. When removing dents in silverplate, I only work on the inside to push out the dents so I don't damage the silver plating.
Silverplate coffeepots and teapots usually have hinged lids which frequently break in a number of different ways. Sometimes the hinge itself is fine, but the hinge separates from the body or the lid. The hinge can be reattached. It isn't a complicated repair, but there is always a risk to the plating as these are usually not the best quality silverplate items. Do not glue the hinge. It won't hold.
Hinge Repair on silver Burner for
Hot Water Kettle
Early 20th-Century ITALIAN 800 Silver Burner Hinge Repair
The hinge on this burner needed to be reconstructed and a new pin made. There were dents in the body and the opening was misshapen preventing the strainer from fitting properly. I feel like an expert in reconstructing hinges but it is definitely an advanced skill set and very difficult. I have to use a torch and it is possible to accidentally solder the whole hinge to the point that it won’t move. Additional factors were the 800 silver being super hard and there were dents and damage to the object,
Click here to see the complete tea set that this burner came from.
Hinge Repair on Antique Silverplate
Hinge repair for Arthur & Bond silver plate teapot
Hinge repairs on antique silver plate Arthur and Bond silver plate teapot was done with sterling silver for the best results and to eliminate the need for new silver plating. In this case, I replaced a damaged hinge section with sterling silver tubing, and then covered over the hinge repair with sterling sheet to strengthen and conceal the repair. The repair came out fantastic!
Antique 19TH-CENTURY silver plate pitcher with a hinged lid
This antique silver plate water pitcher arrived with the hinge literally ripped out of the body and cracking the metal of the lid as well. This white metal is very soft and melts very easily. To reinforce and conceal the repair, I added sterling sheet under the hinge on the lid (not visible,) a sterling silver patch on the inside of the lid (not visible), and two sterling silver wires on the top rim (shown in the left photo). The bottom is stamped Columbia Silver Co. Quadruple.
HINGE REPAIR ON MERIDEN SILVERPLATE COMMUNION FLAGON
With silverplate on white metal the hinge often rips out of the side or the hinge sections break. My goal is to repair the hinge as neatly as possible without new silver plating. Very often I use sterling silver to reinforce and conceal the repair which produces a beautiful result. You can see an excellent example of a white metal hinge repair this Meriden Communion Flask. This is a Meriden Silverplate Communion Flagon from 1883. Used regularly by a church, the hinge had ripped from the body.
Click here to learn more about this antique Meriden Communion Flask hinge repair.
Hinge Repair on Sterling silver
Hinge Repair on Vintage sterling silver Cigarette Lighter
This sterling silver cigarette lighter had a hinge that was badly worn and broken. A hinge section was missing and it was very irregular. I rebuilt a completely new hinge with five sections of thick-walled sterling silver tubing instead of the original four-section hinge (left photo.) Five-section hinges are more stable distributing the stress on a hinge more evenly. The customer said, "The lighter arrived, and it is splendid – don’t know how you did it, but I remain very awed and extremely pleased!"
Click here to see the step-by-step process for the repair of this antique cigarette lighter.
Hinge Repair on Silver Box
Sterling silver turtle box - Repair of the hinge
This sterling silver turtle box had a broken hinge. The hinge was constructed on the curve of the shell which put a lot of stress on the hinge.
I kept the repair work to a minimum, but still required a lot of skill and the use of my state-of-the-art TIG. Using the TIG welder prevented damage to the very fragile mother of pearl inlay.
