I'm always happy to see a black piece of silver even though I know it will take hours and hours and it's own can of Wright's Silver Cream to clean it up. Mind you, Wright's Silver Cream is rather abrasive but what I like is that I'm the one who decides when to stop.

The first step, however, is to simply clean with soap and water using an old toothbrush. That doesn't remove tarnish, it removes grunge, at least some of it, hopefully a lot.

Next step is to use the polish, sparingly and over a small area at a time. If it turns out that there are spots of especially deep or hardened tarnish, I can put in additional time and effort just on those areas. I simply won't use liquid or foam cleaners, and I don't like products with a tarnish inhibitor simply because I don't care for the very glossy finish. I prefer a satin finish that professional polishers can achieve with buffing, but which I have to approximate with a plain flannel rag (no polish) and a lot of elbow grease.

Once I've got it looking like I want it, my best allies are anti-tarnish cloth and an occasional rub with my thumb, just like you might have noticed Mr. Hudson doing in episodes of Upstairs Downstairs. It actually works.