Tassel silver plate replacement

[johngoff]

I have an older sporran with silver-plated bells that cover the top part of the tassel. They have corroded over the years so I'm hoping to replace them. Any leads or information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, John.

[Moses]

I have an older sporran with silver-plated bells that cover the top part of the tassel. They have corroded over the years so I'm hoping to replace them. Any leads or information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, John.

It is something I was wondering also just the other day! Hopefully there'll be a good response from our group here

[Stoff]

I have a question. What about gently cleaning and polishing the existing silver vs. replacing it? I have an elderly kilt belt buckle that is brass with silver plate that has been polished a number of times. It is from the first kilt belt that I purchased 40+ years ago and I would not discard it for the world. In fact I think it has been on about four different belts.

Stoff

[LKM]

I agree with Stoff about cleaning. The tarnish is oxidation and there are several cleaners that have been made that can remove the tarnished look. If you don't have the cleaners yourself most jewelery stores can clean silver in a way that can untarnish most silver. My wife had a silver ring that was almost black that now looks as good as new after a trip to Zales. Some may charge a minimal fee, especially if they do not carry the product, yet it will still be cheaper then replacement.

If they are damaged beyond help some pictures of the tassels would help in finding replacements.

[Moses]

In my case my "replacements" would be to replace the chrome styled with silver. I have a silver (plated I believe) cantle and thought it would be much better to match up the metals.

[tky58]

Try NEVR-DULL which is a cotton floss impregnated with polish. It is silver safe. I have used it for decades on brass. You can clean the balls without messing up the leather or whatever it is hung on.

[Stan]

I have an older sporran with silver-plated bells that cover the top part of the tassel. They have corroded over the years so I'm hoping to replace them. Any leads or information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, John.

I'm in the leather crafting biz, and have been making sporrans for about 5 years. I have YET to source the parts that your looking for. I've found every one of the products that you've been recommended so far, and they are all to small. There has to be some where to buy the same ones that the mfg's are using, but I haven't been able to find them .....either.

[Sam Henderson]

Depending on how deep the corrosion extends into the base metal; you could lightly use some fine grit sandpaper (1000grit or higher) to remove the rest of the plating, then take them to a jewellers to be polished and re-plated in either silver or rhodium. This shouldn't be too expensive, and at least worth looking into before you go and buy brand new tassel caps.

[Toxpert]

Ditto response to the last posting. Rather than a jeweler, look for silver plating services.
I have sent numerous candles and bells/balls to my local silver plate shop. They typically do things like tea sets, serving trays, etc.

The items I sent for replating came back great. For a cantle, chains and 3 tassel tops, I typically spent around $100. The process includes stripping, prep, plating and polish. All details of Engraving came back sharp.

It’s a bit pricey...but then it saved me hours of fruitless searching and begging sporran makers to sell bits and bobs...which they don’t want to sell.

[RichardtheLarge]

I'm in the leather crafting biz, and have been making sporrans for about 5 years. I have YET to source the parts that your looking for. I've found every one of the products that you've been recommended so far, and they are all to small. There has to be some where to buy the same ones that the mfg's are using, but I haven't been able to find them .....either.

I’ve had good luck ordering sporran hardware directly from L and M.