Estate Sale Find - Vesuviana Espresso Machine

[58limited]

I found this at an estate sale today. It is a Vesuviana Espresso maker, made in Italy, from the early 1950s. The family told me that it was given to their mother by Bob Dorsey, CEO of Gulf Oil (I don't know if he was CEO at the time this was given to them). The family, whose father was employed by Gulf, was in Venezuela working on the construction of the refinery at Puerto La Cruz.

I love knowing the history of things I buy, it makes them more interesting.

Pic below is as I found it.

 

[58limited]

Here it is after a little hand polishing. There are several black spots that would not polish out by hand. Can anyone give me a little advice for polishing aluminum? I cleaned the inside and brewed some espresso - very good.

Excuse the mess, I'm still working on the kitchen: tape and mud work, sanding, lots of dust everywhere.

 

[petek]

Without a buffing wheel it's difficult but not impossible..you just have to keep going over those black spots with metal polish.. I use MAAS but most are all alike and some 000 steel wool . It looks worse in the picture than real life

Here's my Vesuvio. I got this one quite a number of years ago and have used it on occasion though not lately. I like how it just sits there seemingly doing nothing then erupts..