Cleaning Brass

I have a very old brass 3-light chandelier which has a lacquer,of unknown type,finish on it. How can this be effectively be removed without ruining the lustre of the brass. I need to clean it up PDQ 'cause the sparkies are on their way.Can anyone out there help me?

Why do you need to remove the lacquer, the brass will go very dull quickly without a protective coat on it.

You could try paint stripper which won't require any buffing equipment.

Paint stripper doesn't work.