Perhaps you have some cherished family china that you would like to display, but the china has developed those ugly gray-brown stains that old china sometimes acquires, and you don't know what to do about it.  Or at a thrift or antique store, you see the piece you need to complete the set you've been collecting for years, but again, there's that dingy brown-gray, and you know from experience that it will simply not wash off. 

What causes that, anyway?  Well, look closely at the stained piece.  See that network of tiny lines?  That's crazing.  The glaze has developed tiny cracks, and the dust and grime can now get under the glaze and stain the pottery itself.  That's why scrubbing doesn't help; you're not reaching the actual dirt and stain.

There is a solution!  So simple I can tell you in two words.

Peroxide soak.

That's it.  Soak the piece in hydrogen peroxide.  Some people who use the peroxide solution get powerful 30% peroxide from beauty salon supply stores.  Personally, I feel more comfortable using the plain old 3% solution you can buy at any drug store.  (Yes, the same stuff you put on cuts.)  You don't have to do the rubber glove deal, you don't have to worry about your curious cats, and it costs about a buck a quart.

The disadvantage of the 3% solution is that it takes longer, weeks rather than days.  Badly stained pieces can require up to a month in the peroxide bath. 

How well does it work?  See for yourself.

This first picture is a piece of 19th Century J. Wedgwood Ironstone.  (Just as an aside, J. Wedgwood Ironstone had nothing to do with THE Wedgwood company founded by Josiah Wedgwood, though John Wedge Wood no doubt hoped people would think that it did when he named his pottery company J Wedgwood Ironstone.)  Venerable, but rather yucky, right?



Now here's the same piece after a month in a refreshing peroxide bath.



Izzzzzn't that amazing?

All well and good, you might say, but Great-Aunt Minnie's china has a floral pattern. 

Not to worry.  Take a look at this. 

Here is a piece by Columbian Art Pottery, which I think was the most badly stained piece of china I ever saw in all my born days!  (Never heard of Columbian Art Pottery?  It lasted for something like two years around the turn of the last century.)



And here's the after picture, ready for its closeup!



So there you have it.  China.  Age-stains.  Peroxide.  Stains gone. 

(A word of CAUTION:  Don't try to improvise and rather than take a trip to the drugstore to buy peroxide, decide to use bleach instead.  Really, DO NOT use bleach!  It will get under the glaze and EAT your china!)

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