Silver Plating Antique Restoration Shop Since 1963: Royale

Royale Silver Co. has been polishing, repairing and replating metal in Los Angeles since 1963, and its shop sits at 7930 W. 3rd St., LA 90048, on the stretch of Third Street just east of Fairfax. It is the kind of antique restoration shop you bring a family tea service to: dented coffeepots, wobbly candelabras, worn silver plate on a wedding tray, a copper pot that has lost its shine. The doors are open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, and the shop is closed on weekends and holidays.

The company's own homepage gives its founding year as 1963 and describes the business as metal finishing in the broad sense, from plating and polishing to repair and custom finishes. It does not publish the names of its owners, and it does not need much story to explain itself: a shop that has kept a plating line running on Third Street for six decades has handled the same categories of object for generations of customers: tea and coffee services, candlesticks, trays, flatware and the brass and copper pieces that share a kitchen or a mantel with them.

Its customers, in its own words, are interior designers, DIY enthusiasts and the general public. That mix is useful to know. Designers bring lighting, hardware and furniture mounts that need a matching finish, while private clients tend to arrive with one heirloom and a specific worry, often a dent or a split handle on a teapot that has been in a cupboard since the last family wedding.

Holloware repair is the heart of the restoration side. The shop lists candlesticks, candelabras, trays, copper pots, kettles, teapots and coffeepots, and it works across sterling silver, brass and copper, pewter and nickel, and pot metal. Pot metal is worth singling out, because the cheap zinc alloy used for many mid-century lamps and figures is hard to solder and is often turned away elsewhere. Typical holloware jobs are taking out dents, re-soldering loose spouts, feet and handles, and straightening bent arms on a candelabra.

Flatware repair has its own page on the official site, which covers the forks and spoons that come out of a drawer bent, worn or mismatched. After repair comes finishing. Royale polishes silver, brass, copper, nickel and chrome plate, and it offers satin finishes, antique finishes and patinas for pieces that should not look brand new. For an old brass lamp, an antique finish keeps the warm, slightly darkened look in the recesses that a mirror polish would strip away.

Plating is the service that most people mean when they say their silver needs restoring. Silver plate is a thin layer over a base metal, and decades of polishing wear it through at the high points, showing yellowish brass or copper on the rims of trays and the bellies of teapots. Replating strips the remaining layer and deposits a new one, which makes a worn piece look the way it did when it was sold. Royale's plating page sits alongside its polishing and repair pages.

Sterling silver is different, because it is solid silver throughout and does not need plating to look silver. A tarnished sterling bowl usually needs polishing and perhaps dent work, not replating. Before you hand over a piece, look for hallmarks on the base: a sterling mark or the number 925 means solid silver, while marks such as EPNS or the words silver plate mean a plated object. Knowing which one you have makes the conversation at the counter faster.

The contact page notes that there is customer parking at the rear entrance, so you can carry a heavy tray or a boxed tea service straight in from the car instead of along the Third Street sidewalk. Come during weekday hours, as the shop is closed Saturday and Sunday. Bring each piece wrapped in a soft cloth rather than newspaper, which can mark silver, and keep any broken-off finials, feet or handles in a labelled bag so they can be reattached rather than recreated.

The website does not publish a price list, so the cost of a repair is quoted at the counter. Bring the whole set if you want a matching result, since replating one piece of a tea service can make the others look tired beside it. If a piece has engraving or a monogram you want to keep, point it out at drop-off so that polishing and plating preserve the lettering.

This part of Third Street is one of the easiest errand blocks in the Fairfax area. Walk west to Joan's on Third at 8350 West Third St. for a sandwich or a pastry from the marketplace counters. Head east instead and you reach The Original Farmers Market at 6333 W. 3rd St., the 1934 market of produce stalls and lunch counters beside The Grove.

Transit has improved too. The Metro D Line extension opened its Wilshire/Fairfax station on May 8, 2026, about a mile south of the shop, which puts a subway stop within reach for the first time. Combine a drop-off with a look at LACMA or the Academy Museum on Wilshire, then come back to Third Street for lunch, and the shop's weekday hours fit easily into a day out.

Address: 7930 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90048, near Fairfax Avenue. Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, closed Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Parking: customer parking at the rear entrance. Services: holloware repair, flatware repair, polishing of silver, brass, copper, nickel and chrome plate, replating, satin and antique finishes, and patinas. Founded: 1963.

Best for: a plated tea set with worn rims, a dented sterling pitcher, a candelabra with a loose arm, or brass hardware that needs a matching antique finish. Bring hallmarked pieces wrapped in cloth and any loose parts. Ask the Karpo APP for lunch near the Farmers Market or a coffee on Third Street, and the drop-off becomes part of an easy Fairfax afternoon.