toning silver coins

[Bill W4]

I've put a few low cost, overcleaned denari in a wooden cigar box along  with some flower of sulfur .  They toned quite nicely in about a week.  Seems to easy.  Is anything bad happening here?  Sorry I didn't take pictures.

[n.igma]

Re-toning Silver Coins https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=38532.0 ....... nothing adverse noted here in using using various sulfur compounds and techniques, but it seems moderation is the byword.... less is more!

[areich]

Articicially retoned coins sometimes look artificial. Especially the 'rainbow toning' can be hideous.

[paparoupa]

Articicially retoned coins sometimes look artificial. Especially the 'rainbow toning' can be hideous.

The past 2 years I am using an abafil case and silver coins got a golden-pink toning around the devices. And not only the sides touching the velvet  So I wonder what the heck are they are dipping the velvet in....

[Robert_Brenchley]

Rainbow toning is transitory, at least in my city air, dependent on the thickness of the layer of toning. There must be someone on the site who understands this better than I do, it's been a long time since I did A Level physics! I've had overcleaned coins go rainbow coloured, then turn dead black.

[mihali84]

I am certainly no physics wiz but i do know that the rainbow color often looks black when looked at in certain light.  It's all about what the coin is reflecting.  A white surface reflection will usually show the colors in the toning, while a darker color reflection shows the color to be dark or black.

[carthago]

I've put a few low cost, overcleaned denari in a wooden cigar box along  with some flower of sulfur .  They toned quite nicely in about a week.  Seems to easy.  Is anything bad happening here?  Sorry I didn't take pictures.

Please do take pictures and post them.  I'd like to see what they look like, even if you don't have before pics. 

[Bill W4]

Here are some.  The toning is uneven and the lower coin didn't seem to tone much at all.  All of these were shiny as new dimes when I started.  Took about six days.  It is what it is.

[carthago]

Maybe a few more days would help even them out.  They look better than I had expected.

I've heard that putting the coin in the middle of a thin ring of the sulfur, without any of it touching the coin, is the way to do it best.

Thanks for posting the pictures, Bill.

C

[David Atherton]

I don't have any advice on how to quickly tone silver coins, but I will say this, don't put them in a safe deposit box and expect them to tone. Some of my coins have been in a box for 5 years and look exactly the same as the first day they went in. Climate controlled environments are no friend to toning.

[Bill W4]

Possibly tobacco and sulfur?  Have no idea but it does seem to work.  Not sure what the wood in the box is.    Don't think I would try it on an expensive coin but I suppose that is relative.

[jskirwin]

Remembered this thread while walking with the wife along the beach in Hilton Head SC. She likes to explore and quickly found herself knee deep in sulfurous mud in a marsh. After I pulled her out, she reached in to retrieve her flip flop. When she pulled it out a silver ring she was wearing had taken on a brownish grey patina. I haven't had time to clean the ring but the patina wouldn't rub off.

So if anyone lives near a marsh, you might want see what this does on a slug first.

[Paddy]

I am using a raw egg and using it on one of my coins.

A few questions:

Is this totally safe for the coin?

What are definitions of artificial and natural toning respectively?

Is it the same agent toning the coin regardless if you use an egg or sulphur?

[benito]

Eggs have a high content in sulphur.
Fried, raw, omelette ( french or " de patatas") a la coque, scrambled..etc..
Hundred of récipes.

[chance v]

Here is my attempt with a Lysimachos drachma I got from [REMOVED BY ADMIN]. It's the first time I bought a coin that is neither silver nor blackened nor nicely toned - it was whitish like the limestone miners in Apocalypto.  I guess it was bleached maybe it will end up spotty? 3 days in olive oil and 14 minutes on a side in a Ziploc boiled egg dungeon.  Voila. It looked weird, now it looks like it belongs.  Using just the nekked eye or my 30x magnifier it actually looks stellar.