To polish or not to polish? That is the question.  

I'm a fan...
I'm a fan of patina. Once you polish it up, you'll lose 50 or so years of natural aging. You can't buy patina but you can buy bright and shiny. But hey, they are your lamps and you can make them look however you want.

Thanks Chairlove
You're right about the age being washed away and loosing the patina. That's why I am resisting to polish. I think I will take your advice and resist the temptation to shine. One of the reasons why I love mid century design is the character, so you make a good point about losing that link to the past.
It's funny because I would never consider polishing brass elements on furniture but brass lamps are such a temptation. Curious to what others think.
Thanks for your response.
Cheers,
Tick.

My opinion
We're not talking about an ancient Roman bronze, or even a 200-year-old pair of candlesticks; in my opinion, recently manufactured items like this one look better if they're clean and presented as their designer intended.
Whoever designed this lamp intended for it to have shiny brass accents; I think of the dull layer of oxidation as closer to "dirt" than "patina", so if the lamp belonged to me I would polish it.
And... I don't think you have to worry about losing "50 years of natural aging" if you polish the brass; the dullness that you'll remove will come right back in a year or so if you don't polish it again.

That's the rub.
This is what I struggle with and you are right to point out that the materials were selected by the designer for their particular qualities. I don't know anything about this lamp but the brass and wood elements suggest that it was intended to have an opulent quality.
Galleries never shine but we are dealing with everyday objects here, so sometimes it's matter of enjoying them as intended and perhaps not being too precious.

fstfwd's got it.
I wouldn't hesitate to polish brass on furniture or fixtures unless they were rare and potentially valuable. If future resale is likely, it's good to keep in mind that savvy collectors often like "original" surfaces and prefer to do any necessary "work" themselves.
I would, however, recommend proceeding with care. Especially with plated parts. There's almost nothing worse that botched attempts at cleaning and polishing to absolutely ruin a piece.

Yes, shiny
I also agree with the shiny coalition here. Also, Antiques Roadshow has mentioned that brass is the one metal where it is ok to polish.

Cool, much appreciated.
If Antiques roadshow say its fine, then I will shine.
Now I have that solved, I just have the small task
of identifying the maker and date of the lamp.
Thanks for your advice chaps.
Tick 🙂

Lamp polished
Hi guys,
I picked up the lamp today and after 2 hours of polishing it looks like a different lamp. I also put a bit of furniture oil on the teak accents.
I'm a big fan of patina but I agree that brass lamps can look much better when they have a shine, which should soften after a few months. I have continued to search for the maker and it looks like the lamp is an early Fog and Morup.
Thanks for the advice.
Tick 🙂

Great result! I have a...
Great result! I have a floor lamp I'll post a picture of soon. It has gold (brass?) shades and I've considered painting them with metallic gold spray paint. I may reconsider given the wonderful job you've done here of polishing yours.

Wow, tick.
Totally worth the effort.
What did you use on it?

Looks Great!
I was wrong. That lamp looks amazing. I'll have to rethink some of my brass pieces.

Thank you for comments
I used Brasso and 2 cloths method. One cloth for application of Brasso and one to buff as I went along. This method of cleaning then polishing small sections at a time seems to be less messy and easier to get a good even finish.
I think the Anitiques Roadshow comment above really clinched it for me. I can now see why the designer of the lamp chose brass, it looks very opulent with a polished finish. Really happy with the result.
Thanks all for advice, and yes please post more polishing success stories.
Tick 🙂

In the "before"
pic the shade appears white in color. Was it painted ? If so, did you strip it ? What material is it ?

Hi SDR
Yes, I also thought it would be white based on the seller's pic, but it turned out to have a light grey anodised finish which I just wiped over with a damp cloth to remove the dust. The color appears to be original.
The lamp looks like it might be late 1940's or early 1950's, as it has a slight deco feel but the spun aluminium shade is very fifties. I am not familiar with this twin globe style and I think it is most likely Scandinavian. Overall, I think it scrubbed up alright.
Cheers,
Tick 🙂