This comic strip is so great, and when I read this one, I could only think of head-fi/case
http://www.bohemiandrive.com/comics/npwil/66.html
if you liked that one, you should start from the beginning
I think something like this (http://www.head-case.org/index.php/topic,2327.0.html) could have stopped the oxidation but I have no idea about removing it. Silver polish?