Here's someone selling an entire "medical supplies" company, as it were: Tanfastic Coin Darkener Business, Inventory for Sale That's all very nice, I'm sure, but I'm thinking it can't be that difficult to come up with a formula for darkening coins.
I thought "Dellers Darkener" had a monoply in the coin darkening market. "Tanfastic" sounds like something you use at the beach.
Start your own business cheap. Go to Wal-Mart and buy a container of Flowers of Sulfur(sulfur powder, in the pharmacy dept.) and a jar of Vaseline. Mix one part sulfur to 5 parts Vaseline. Purchase some small plastic bottles off eBay. Total start up cost 10 dollars.
so I guess I should not have bouth that then.. OOPPPSSS. I guess i had the whool pulled over my eyes.. or maybe it was just the darkness from the coins
Some collectors use this to "age" coins especially after using something like a rock tumbler to clean them. Deception is what is should be called.
Too many people want such a product. Many have older coppers such as large cents and indians that were badly cleaned and colored abnormally. A darkener can make a damage 1872 IHC look much better to a buyer on ebay or elsewhere that doesn't know how to distinguish. Amateurs often overuse the darkener, making it fairly obvious, but a pro user, can produce an effect that is harder to distinguish. Those that use sulfur flour, flowers of sulfur ( they are different) or rubber maker's sulfur ( which is low acid and lessens compounding bad effects) act the same. Vasoline/petroleum jelly is a often used carrier for the sulfur, but there are certian processed sulfur that can use water as a base. Time and energetic light can vary the effect. To do such to defraud someone is wrong! But experimentation so one knows what the end effects can look like is honest education. Specifics about use should be limited to generalities to prevent one-offs. Photos are almost useless except for poorly done samples, you have to have it in hand and rotate it around in light and observe the edges and details.IMO. Jim
