| Author |
 Replies: 34 / Views: 9,422 |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
814 Posts |
So I'd like some idea for toning coins to experiment with. Only to see what causes toning and what to look out for and too see what different elements cause different kinds of toning. And for an awesome cool experiment. Yes I know that this is artificial toning and I will not sell these coins. Yes I know that toning experiments have been posted here on CCF before, but I haven't seen any quite like mine. Each different idea will be done with set of BU moderns coin and circulated, damaged coins from times past. Each group will have a control. I'm after ideas of what to use to tone and anyone who would be willing to donate or sell coins for the experiment. Any and all donations can and will be returned too their owners when the experiment is concluded or upon request at any time. I will take pictures every 3 months or 1 month, depending on the opinion of the community.
Overall what I'm looking for.
20+ different ideas for toning coins
Preferably one of each type of denomination since 1900, for each sort of toning idea, donations welcome especially cleaned, low grade, and detail coins. I will supply the modern BU coins and I'm willing to buy coins at FMV for the experiment. I need 40+ of each type.
Any ideas pertaining to the experiment.
How often I should photograph the coins?
Different ideas of storing the coins.
How long should I run the experiment? 5+ yrs minimum IMHO
Ideas I already have for toning are:
The taco bell napkin
A Culvers napkin
mcdonalds napkin
Fast food grease handling
Cigarette smoke
Daylight vs darkness on all toning varieties
Regular human sweat
Nail polish remover
Gasoline/oil
Thanks for looking and I'm looking forward to your input!
Edited by GoldenChest
02/13/2013 07:20 am
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
Good luck. I've done a few tests in the past (taco bell napkin, brown envelope, etc.) and the results were posted here a few years ago.
Would recommend you change one of your test parameters (sunlight vs. darkness) to heat vs. cold. Sunlight isn't the catalyst, it's the heat.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
Wonder what Windex would do...
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1721 Posts |
I had posted two threads last year regarding this topic. I used Hoppes Gun Bluing for artificial toning. You have to wipe off and re-apply until you get the desired effect. When it's first applied, the coin looks almost black or grayish in color. Here is a LMC I had experimented on after it was brought to a high gloss shine. Keep in mind the liquid gun bluing tone can be wiped almost completely off. Please don't use this to deceive. The two coins you see here were cleaned then released back into the wild.  Here is a clad quarter. Not as pretty but I'm sure I could have made it look better.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Sunlight vs Heat may be a misnomer - given the correct kind of glass, UV would be filtered. However, perhaps it is UV that can cause toning. this would be a difficult thing to do without a UV light though.
I tried toning a pure copper bullion round. I used repeated heat treatment. Didnt go toooo badly.
Id be interested to know how you intend to tone a coin using cigarette smoke. My grandmother had a bowl of old copper pennies left out in the open and she smoked like a chimney. These did not receive muuuch toning - a 1960s coin would be the best indication but I cannot know how it looked when it was put in the bowl back in the 1960s.
You may have seen a video on youtube where someone pours smoke from an unfiltered cigarette into a glass and it lingers there for a long time. Oerhaps you could do this also and then seal the container such that no gas may escape. you'd be able to keep it drenched in the gas.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
814 Posts |
Ill add windex to the list. Thanks Noah!
A few suggestions from some of my non collecting friends(who think I'm crazy) were laundry soap and a fabric softener dryer sheet. As for the cigarette smoke, I was thinking a zip lock bag filled with smoke and then sealed. Redone each time I took pictures. Of course now I wonder if the ziploc would have any effect on the coins.
mds308- That is some crazy toning. I must have missed that thread when I was searching, i'll have to go back and read that one. Have no fear I'm not going to sell any of these coins nor release them into the wild. I plan on putting them all into an open face custom album of some sort when the experiment is over.
Ill add heat and get a UV light to add to the varieties.
Edited by GoldenChest
02/13/2013 12:39 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
8515 Posts |
I bought a very worn and cleaned 2 cent for a few bucks to experiment with. Somebody had mentioned here that you can bury a coin and retone them that way. I buried it on January 1st.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1195 Posts |
Quote:
A few suggestions from some of my non collecting friends(who think I'm crazy) were laundry soap and a fabric softener dryer sheet. That'll do something right quick! No pictures, but I have once let a BU cent. that I had forgot was in my pocket, go through the wash machine, and I found that it had some rainbow toning to it afterward. |
|
Valued Member
United States
442 Posts |
I wonder what leaving it in some CLR would do considering its crazy powerful I use it to eat the rust off of my cars and it is insane.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
A ziplock bag isn't airtight to a good enough degree to keep the smoke in - it will defuse out very quickly - hence filling a jar and sealing that somehow. Perhaps put it in a baloon? Even that will leak out very quickly.
The mint once darkened farthings in the UK - I wonder what they used for that?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
814 Posts |
If I can find a glass jar with corked topped do you think it would keep the smoke sealed in there?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
I reckon so. The video has the stuff just sitting in the bottom of a glass. The issue is not just openings but the bag is flexible and the gravity will push out gas too.
|
|
CCF Master Historian of USA Commemoratives
 United States
12253 Posts |
A good number of years ago, I did a coin club presentation on artificial toning. The "guests of honor" were a number of silver 1964 Kennedy half-dollars that I toned myself as an experiment. Each method was more of a short-term experiment than what you are planning, but you might consider:
1) Coating coins with vegetable oil and then inserting them into potatoes that are then baked for an hour or more. I recall that longer baking times yielded more toning, but I don't remember any of the coins being dramatic in appearance. You might see different results if after baking them you insert the coins in kraft paper envelopes (e.g., envelopes made out of paper containing sulfur) and let them sit on a sunny window sill for an extended period.
2) Coating coins with vegetable oil and then baking on a cookie sheet - same additional comments as above.
3) Place coins in kraft paper envelopes and let sit on a window sill that gets strong sunlight during the day. I found minimal toning after 30 days, but noticeable toning as the time was extended - I capped mine at 90 days.
4) Soak silver coins in bleach. I don't recall exactly how long I soaked the coins other thans "hours" vs. "days." I do remember some interesting blue-ish toning as a result!
It's been a long time since I ran these experiments - and I know I tried a few other methods as well - but I'm sure they'd all still work!
Good luck!
Collecting history one coin or medal at a time! (c) commems. All rights reserved.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
598 Posts |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
I read somewhere that you could put coins in a container with sliced raw onion & put the container in a warm place.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1721 Posts |
They claim the sulphur in the paper/cardboard can cause coins to tone and onions contain sulphur. When the onion fumes get in your eyes it creates sulphuric acid.
change your eye burn into coin turn.
|
| |
Replies: 34 / Views: 9,422 |
Posted 02/13/2013 09:25 am
