Hello, I have heard about artificial toning and before you say, yes I know, this damages the coin. BUT, I thought it would be a good experiment for my school project. I am not going to use any coins worth money, just some regular silver quarters from 64'. I have sulfur and have heard it can be used. Any idea's?
I've heard you can tone coins purple, blue and orange by baking the coin inside a potato cover with corn oil and aluminum foil. I've never tried though...
You can look up metal coloring on Youtube. Jewelers and others use this sort of thing. https://www.sciencecompany.com/DIY-Patina-Formulas.aspx got stuff for kids to.
Go for it, you are going to find out that making AT creations that are attractive and have a chance at passing muster at the TPGs is exceedingly difficult.
In my years as a coin collector, I have encountered many, many different ways to chemically treat coins. However, I think it is a terrible idea to share any methods that I think anyone could ever use to artificially color coins. I've become increasingly more conservative on the topic as time goes by. You might be doing a simple school project... but if we share that information with you, numerous nefarious crooks might use that information to try and create things that they intend to sell. I don't know you at all... you very well might also be one of those crooks looking to make better AT coins.
No harm in a little "science project" on some lower-value silver, I reckon, as long as you're honest about the process if you decide to sell them later. I have found that coins left in sunlight on a windowsill can sometimes tone nicely. It takes a long time, though, and I suppose you'd need to flip it over after one side tones. There is also the old "Taco Bell Napkin Trick". The brown paper napkins used by Taco Bell and some other fast food restaurants have sulfur content and can tone coins, over time. (*Sorry, all the pics in that old 2009 CU forum thread are all dead now. Here's an even older thread from the NGC forums, with some good pix.)
Maybe true in highly concentrated form, but powdered sulfur or the trace amounts of it in paper napkins is harmless enough. Otherwise you'd pass out every time you wiped your mouth with a Taco Bell napkin! (And here's where everybody inserts a joke about Taco Bell making you pass out anyway...) You can get plenty of sulfur fumes from our well water here. I haven't passed out in the shower yet.
I've heard that an often-mocked ancients dealer uses something like naval jelly for silver. Oh, those horrible orange earth patinas for the poor AE's, yuk.
