Hi!
Ok, I cleaned her up! The problem I had was the removable tray on the top. I thought it was wood but after cleaning it, it turned out to be some kind of other material. I guess some type of plastic/resin? I don’t know. It was painted to appear like wood but as I said, when I was cleaning the gunk off of it, the paint came off and underneath there was some kind of whitish material.
I’m going to try and sell it on Ebay before Christmas but if it doesn’t sell, I will have a wood frame made for the tray.
Since the finish came off, I was stuck with how to fix it. I used gold arcylic paint (in an attempt to match the brass color) and then I went over it again with gold colored guilder’s paste. I absolutely HATED doing that but given my time constraints in getting it listed, I had no choice.
Let me tell you…..I took the entire thing apart and cleaned it inch by inch to get rid of the chaulky brass cleaner buildup that was in every nook and cranny. I also bought new brass screws and nuts and added brass and rubber washers.
The front casters were heavily pitted and rusted. I scrubbed and scrubbed with sand paper, brillo pads, etc to no avail. Could not find replacements online so I just had to spray paint them. And yes, I hated doing that too..
This past week I found another one listed online for $5,400. If I find the link again I will post it. I guess brass tea carts are the new Black? 😉
Thank you all for helping me out. I really appreciate it!
Best-
April