Toning Question For Cleaned Silver Coins...

Let me begin by saying I'm partial to brillant coins but over the last month I have read sooo....many posts on re-toning, so here is my Two Cents worth.

I remember my ninth grade science teacher showing us a trick to tarnish silver. It involved hydrochloric acid and tellurium. The teach used a toothpick and applied the mixture to the crevices of some flatware and wala toning/tarnishing.

So if speed is your objective Google those compounds and maybe there is something out close to it you can buy.

Oh and let me know your ebay name because I'll never buy anything from you.

how was the coin cleaned? dip that stripped the patina? any other kind of chemical or silver cleaner or jewelry cleaner?

1 - stick it in a whitman album from the forties or fifties, they're available for sale all over
2 - leave it be for 3 decades or so and check back

i can tell you from weather and environment, the North East seems to be a great place for that method

If you want AT, than put the coin in a bath of powdered Sulfur (from ground-up matchheads)and shampoo (prell works good) heat in you oven at about 400 for 2 or 3 minutes. The coin will have purple, magenta and blue. If you're not happy with the results, rinse and try again.

this is an excerpt from a know scientist, Ph.D actually who is a numismatist:

Dipping simply removes the top few atomic layers of the coin's metal, also known as the "skin", "patina" or "toning" from a coin's surface. On a silver coin what is removed is the outermost layer of silver, typically in the form of the thin layer of silver sulfide or silver oxide that forms on the surface of the coin over time. These silver compounds are produced by oxidation. This is true whether the coin is white or toned. It is also in these outermost atomic layers of the coin's metal where flow lines will be most obviously present. These are the raised lines that are on the surface of the coin after minting. These lines are from the flowing of the metal during the minting (striking) process. It is the scatter of light off of these lines that gives a coin its flash and that causes the cartwheel luster seen on mint state coins. By removing this surface and the flow lines present in this area, the coin is more smooth and light does not bounce off the same way as previously; these coins may appear dull or lifeless. Hence, coins that are improperly or repeatedly dipped lose this upper layer of metal and lose their luster-they looked "dipped out".

Toning is the result of the refraction of the light beam through the silver sulfide and the resulting interference with the other portion of the beam that did not penetrate the silver sulfide-this is called thin film interference and is the exact same phenomena that causes oil on water to look like a rainbow. Because the silver sulfide is not of uniform thickness we see different colors on the coin.

Once you've stripped the patina you can only hope that over the course of time it tones again. Your not going to do it naturally in the time frame you desire. It will take years.

If a Silver coins has been only cleaned, not polished with a polish or wax, it could be made to look almost normal by using the Kitchen window sill method. HOWEVER, many variables come into play with this method. For a starter the coin should be placed on a raw piece of wood, then placed on the inside on that kitchen window sill. The excessive variables come into play due to the quantity of cooking done in a gas stove or oven. The types of food cooked and how often. Window open or closed. High or low humidity in that room. Turning the coin over periodically.
I've been doing this for many, many years and the amount of time varies too pending the type of coin. Many of the coins I've done this with I've shown to coin dealers and they could not tell that they were ever cleaned.

About a year and a hslf ago I sold a nice XF Hawaiian dime to a local coin dealer. He put the coin in a colored coin envelope and set it on the window sill so it would get direct sunlight. He turns the coin over about every three months and after he does both sides in one envelope he puts it in a different colored one and repeats. He has put it in green, blue and yellow ones that I know of. He says the coin is toning quite beautifully. All natural too. He doesn't add or do anything to it but lets it sit in the sun so the dye and sulphur in the paper can work their magic.

Ed
ANA LM-3175

That all depends on what you mean by "normal air". It also depends on where you are; the air temperature and "normal air quality" of Beijing is quite different to the that of, say, Antarctica. Coins aren't going to tone very fast in Antarctica.


Not really, no. Moisture is more problematic on copper coins. "Natural" silver toning/tarnish is caused by sulfur compounds, either in the air or in the palms, pockets and purses of the people who used the coins as money. The more sulfur there is in the air, the faster a piece of bright silver will tone in it.


If one is to make any distinction at all between "artificial toning" and "accelerated toning", then accelerated toning uses sulfur-based chemicals (match-heads, shampoo, rotten eggs, garlic vapours, Deller's Darkener, etc) to create toning which is chemically identical to "natural" toning, while artificial toning uses other agents, which a coin is highly unlikely to encounter in everyday circulation (tellurium, bleach, black spray-paint, etc). Such artificial toning is chemically different and probably alters the coin's surface in a much more permanent way. Acid-thiourea "dip" will not remove such artificial toning, for example.

Accelerated toning is ethically questionable; there may be perfectly valid reasons for doing it but one does have to ask, "Why?". Artificial toning is always downright deceptive.

the fact the coin was even touched/toyed with makes it compromised

the value should be held at a different standard than that of a coin that has sat "unmolested"

If the patina is stripped than the first few atomic layers that contain the silver sulfide on a silver coin are compromised

you remove those you lose the potential event that is the phenomena of thin film interference

lose that and its not a natural toning
no mottled crustiness and spottiness and goodness

just smoothed down flat looking color is all you get and in many cases, typically executed at the hands of a total novice who has no business doing it...you get nasty looking crap that NO TPG in the world is slabbing as acceptable and problem free but pure details and body bags

and IMO, as it should be