Patina is only when it's on copper. On brass or silver, it's tarnish and undesirable. Brass and silver are meant to be kept polished. Copper is allowed to patinate. Polishing brass and silver antiques does not hurt their value, but polishing copper antiques does. That's too bad, because I like polished copper better than patinated copper. For that matter, I like all my metal objects polished to a high shine. For me, steel is too much pain in the butt to keep polished. I'd rather have it blued,Parkerized, Bonderized, color case hardened, or browned, whichever is correct for the particular item.
Calling tarnish patina doesn't make it so. Just like calling a magazine a clip doesn't make a magazine a clip.
On steel, it's oxidation, rust, bluing/browning loss, or just plain butt-ugly.
That said, I don't feel inclined to take the time to polish my brass capper, unless I'm going to wax it to prevent tarnish. It's just too narrow to be worth the effort. Maybe I'll polish or wax a snail capper when I get one. Maybe my laziness will win out.
Shiny brass is easier to find, if you drop it, but a bit of a pain to keep shiny. Tarnished brass is easier to lose sight of if dropped, but it's an easy finish to maintain.
However, I respect your right to your incorrect opinion.
(J/K, of course.)
I say, use whatever level of finish/polish or tarnish/oxidation you prefer. That's what I'll do, and let my descendants worry about the value.
I like high polish, but would rather spend my time cleaning than polishing,
Darn my human laziness.
.
