| Author |
 Replies: 9 / Views: 10,096 |
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
I have picked up a few dipped Lincolns that I would like to try to restore some of the brown color back into them. Is there a way that I could produce what most closely resembles natural toning or darkening.
Is there a good product or technique to use that beats the heck out of having a bright pinkish white copper colored cent that anyone knows of?
I would rather look at some artificial toned cents than dipped ones. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4113 Posts |
Deller's Darkener.
Works very nice on cleaned copper coins.
|
|
Moderator
 United States
16677 Posts |
Is it safe? Won't hurt the coin? Never heard of it. May try it out on a couple. One I want to darken slightly is a semi-key date.
swcoin.ecrater.com
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4113 Posts |
Info on Deller's Darkener: http://www.brent-krueger.com/dellers.htmlI recommended this because the OP wants to darken already cleaned/dipped copper coins. I'm assuming these coins have no numismatic value. I personally would not use it on ANY coin of any PREMIUM value! Edited by chuckster 125
08/09/2011 09:53 am
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Artificial darkeners will usually make the coin look artificial. You may well spend money on a product that you end up not liking at all. There are actually lots of methods to darken Copper coins and most will always look just wrong. HOWEVER, I've had some luck with gun bluing solutions on darkening coins. Some have said placing in a stove the next time you use one for food works but I've never tried that one, YET. In the past I've purposely purchased coins that were either harshly cleaned or polished to see if I could return them to somewhat normalicy. My methods were to use Acetone, Laquer thinners, Alcohols to remove anything that shouldn't be on the coins. Then just placing on a piece of raw wood on a kitchen window sill. This system highly depends on many factors though. And it takes time. Some of the factors are if the window faces South. Is there a lot of cooking done in that room. What type of foods are cooked. Open or closed window.  These are some of the coins I've tried that system with. All were so highly polished and/or cleaned at one time they looked like mirrors. And oddly enough as you can see not all came out the same. Before you spend any money on such attempts to restore your coins, just try the Kitchen Window system. It takes time but also the price is right. |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
Is it safe? Won't hurt the coin? Yes it will hurt the coin, but the coin is already hurt. The question is, is it less hurt after the treatment than before? Typically they will not look "right" after treatment, but they can look "better". They can also look worse. Edited by Conder101
08/10/2011 10:16 am
|
|
Moderator
United States
16677 Posts |
Not taking any chances. I don't care for chemicals around coins anyway.
swcoin.ecrater.com
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
19931 Posts |
A cleaned coin is a cleaned coin for life. There is no way to "restore" the original look without it being obvious to a collector. The best method IMO is time, put it in a window sill for a year or two and occassionally flip it. It will still look cleaned in the end, but it will improve.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
The question is, is it less hurt after the treatment than before? Typically they will not look "right" after treatment, but they can look "better". They can also look worse.
So true, so true. In all my experiments coins come out usually much worse. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
860 Posts |
Thad's comment on time is the best, but it may take a long time, so be prepared.
Deller's darkener is basically sulfur flour in a wax/vaseline type of compound. If you do decide to experiment, and I personally wouldn't do it, I would dilute it by adding a small amount to vaseline, such as kitchen match head size to a couple of tablespoons of vaseline jelly and mix well. This will slow down the darkening. Have some acetone ready to rinse off the mix when it is still lighter than you wish as it will darken a little more. Can be repeated until you get what you like. Since the normal patina color of a brown cent is not just by one reaction, the color will look artificial for a while, maybe months or years. And it is considered AT by many.
Edited by desertgem
08/12/2011 9:50 pm
|
| |
Replies: 9 / Views: 10,096 |
|
Posted 08/09/2011 12:36 am
