I like to leave the patina on the badge during restorations, unless it's rusted, or really green (copper), or black and grimy.

I'm a badge polisher. I like the badge to look as good as the rest of the drum.

John

Let me ask yooze this, Would you color in the colors and fonts on scratched badges to make them more legible or match the others ?

Thanks for the note about the Slingerland and WFL gold badges VM2000...good info indeed!

X's 2 VM2000 many thanks for the badge cleaning tip!! LOL sorry bout the fuzzy pic. Very brown and stills need a way to go. I'll work on it a bit this weekend.

X's 2 VM2000 many thanks for the badge cleaning tip!! LOL sorry bout the fuzzy pic. Very brown and stills need a way to go. I'll work on it a bit this weekend.

Edit to add better pic.

That badge will clean up just fine !! Before useing something on it, try it on a penny first,...same thing, same patina !!

I'll clean dirt off a badge, but I don't polish them. So many vintage badges had a super thin layer of paint or embossed plating that gets removed by polishing chemicals. For example, a Ludwig keystone badge has the darker plating for the letters and the drumsticks. It just looks weird polished up and shiny with that darker plating gone...I don't think it was ever meant to look that way.

In general, I don't think most collectors want badges to be polished, they prefer the patina. But it would be interesting to take a poll.

The only badge that seems to look ok really shiny is the '53-'56 Slingerland oval badge, with the raised lettering.

I actually think your badge looks really cool! I like the patina.

vintagemore2000's badge looks amazing (obviously), but I don't think your patina'd badge will ever be able to look like that. In order to polish it, you would also need to remove the plating, as vintagemore2000 mentions. All polished up, it would just look unnaturally shiny, with none of the detail. But I understand some people prefer that look to the patina.

It's interesting how some cloud badges developed a deep patina over time, and others didn't at all.

Thanks. I spent a bit of time last night just wiping off the grime layers (warm soapy water) to better expose the badge lettering. It's pretty much looks the same as the pic. So it's going to stay like that for now. :) Not being exactly sure what finish is underneath if any I don't want to ruin it and polish it away by mistake. When I first got the drum it looked like the badge was smooth. But as I wiped it off a bit some of the letters started to show. I think it is what it is..... The brown cloud. LOL. It would be nice to have it shine a little more. We'll see. Oddball good tip on the penny! Just shined up half of a 75 Lincoln penny to compare.