How do you tell the difference between bronze and brass?

[flobadob]

Am I correct in saying that bronze looks the same as unpolished brass?

[tamborine]

No. Brass will shine up with a dab of tomato sauce left on overnight.

[fredpuli47]

And don't ever polish what may be bronze ! Bronze has a patina, a thin layer of colour, either from long exposure to air or, much more likely, when the sculptor had it put on.If you are lucky enough to have a bronze of value, removing the patina ruins it and polishing will certainly do that.

[flobadob]

But what I'm asking is, if I were to pick up two identical looking items, one brass and one bronze, what would the main differences be? I think that both look the same if the brass is faded but I may be mistaken.

[heathfield]

The bare metal colour of both bronze and brass will vary according to differences the proportions of metals used to make them. This can make it very difficult to tell one from the other, even for an expert, who might then have to rely on a chemical testing method. That said, if left unpolished, normally bronze will become a more reddish brown, while brass will still show as yellow under the patina. If left too long, both may gain a green verdigris coating - then it's back to square one!

[Vagrant]

As Heathfield says, not reliably possible by looking. However, they machine totally differently - if it's possible to drill a small hole somewhere, then brass produces a shower of tiny chips, bronze produces long curly swarf (though even this isn't always reliable - depends on composition)