Nickinator ... dood ... that is one very-boss Black Beauty badge !!! Wash it in mild shampoo .. get all the soap residue off with hot
water followed by rubbing alcohol .. not the green stuff. A better product is denatured alcohol from the hardware store. Read all
cautions on the container. Resist the urge to polish it out. There is no paint on that badge. The badge was at one time part of a
brass sheet that had been polished on one side and nickel-plated on that one side. The plating is thin ... very thin.
A silkscreened design was applied >>> anything that you see raised -- once had an asphalt-based, acid-resist screened on the top
of the polished and newly, nickel-plated brass sheet. It's possible that fifty or more badge designs were screened at a time.
All metal that was supposed to stay in position was given a coat of the asphalt-based resist. Any metal that was expected to vacate
was left exposed to the environment, momentarily. Before you can say, "Kim Kardashian has a magnificently-plump hiney ... (but that
isn't going to help her be a wise mother)" ...... that prepared, nickel-plated, brass sheet has been exposed to an acid solution ... and any-
thing that is not covered in the acid-resist ... soon becomes victim to the ravenousness of the acidic predator ... and simply disappears.
In the case of your Black Beauty badge .. a chemical oxidizer was fed onto the front of the badge .. the areas attacked by the acid turned
black (the effect of the oxidizer) ... the badge was allowed to age for a moment .. rinsed in water and / or a neutralizing solution ... your
badge was chemically-cleaned to remove the asphalt based, acid-resist .. and finally made ready to be placed on the head-tube of a bicycle.
One day you will want to polish the Black Beauty badge. Don't do it. Polishing a badge ALWAYS begins in a quiet, purposeful and Sainted
Manner ... then .. before a person knows of the horror and heartbreak that can result when a treasured badge is allowed to be manipulated
by a heavy-handed brute with a Brillo-Pad ...... pardon me, Nick ... I can go on no further ......................
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