Wow !! Thats a lot of polishing !! Guess your next trip will be to the nail salon !! I could not see the earlier pics close enough to tell it had been faux finished !! There are some purists who like the old patina and others who prefer the bright and clean look !! Looks great !! Don`t believe all the asking prices you see !! Rarely do they sell for that much !! Hope yours does well !! Please update us on the sale !! Keeps us up to date !! Good Luck !!

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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

Glad to help when possible !! Perhaps you would enjoy he site I linked to !! Usually I am the only one here !! Friedrich pops in for anything related to German porcelain and thats about it !! The forum I linked to above is like a family and has excellent researchers including the one here that gave all the additional info about your cart !!
We would be happy to have you as a member !! I think you would enjoy it !!

WOW!

Thank you all so much for your replies! Much appreciated.I’m so happy to learn a bit of its history. It makes perfect sense that it was used in cafe/tea shops.
I received my cart a few days ago and I’m thrilled. I’ve completely dismantled it in order to give it a good going over as it was very tarnished. I will post before and after photos once I’m finished. It really is a gorgeous piece.

On a side note, if you look closely at the photo I posted, one of the ormolu accents on the left is slightly bent. The tea trolley in the other link does not have the bent piece; so there are 2 different tea trolleys.

As I said, I dismantled mine and its in pieces in my kitchen. I’ve removed the beveled glass panels to get in to all the creases because there’s a lot of old crusty polish residue. I also have to replace the front castors because I don’t think they’re original. They’re all pitted and the metal is not brass. It’s a cheap steel or something. I was a bit disappointed to discover that. I’m surprised that since it was listed on 1stdibs that the owner didn’t take the time to polish it up properly. Maybe he/she would have had better luck selling it. I’ll post more photos tomorrow after I download them from my phone.

Again, thank you all SO MUCH for taking the time to answer my post. This is really a super community and I hope I can contribute to it.