re: old silver-plated objects, would they need to be anodized?

[RonF]

One idea I have is to make dags directly on old silver-plated objects. I have found a few items that have flat surfaces which I think could be usable.

I know that when one makes a dag on a sterling object, it needs to be anodized in order to deposit a layer of pure silver, as sterling is 92.5% silver.

I am not familiar with old techniques for commercial silver-plating. Is the surface pure silver? If so, is there any reason I could not polish it and if it is intact enough and thick enough, make a daguerreotype on its surface? If not, I would imagine I need to anodize it.

[drdag]

If it is silver plated (I guess its called anodizing in the States) the covering metal is pure silver. You cannot plate 925 onto base metal. So any flat plated objects would be suitable to make dags on.

[photolytic]

Anodizing is a process whereby the surface color of the metal is altered. It is usually associated with aluminum. (aluminium outside the states). It is not a sliver plating process but can be applied to color the surface of silver. It is not desirable for making Dag plates however.

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