Testing on 2 one-cent peices. Both 2006, new and shiney. I left these outside Steps I took: 1) left out in Sun for a week --1a) they got toned 2) sprayed with some household cleaner - dirt didnt come off 3) sprayed with "Kaboom" - cleaned all dirt and even the toning 4) put them outside for another day 5) Final result I plan on working with them more, just thought I'd share
Magman, IF sun toning, what coins tone the best, copper or silver I would just like to know for my info ?
Im not really sure, i havent tried a Dime yet., But I plan on doing that. I imagine a dime would tone better - but we'll see!
Silver should be the better as any sulfur in the air will combine to give a thin film tarnish that would be "tone". Also since almost all numismatic silver coins are not pure, other ions would react also. Some oldtimers tell me they use to put less appealing appearing coins in a glass bottle, or plastic bag now I guess, with some scraps of newsprint or pulp paper behind it. The cheap paper had a high sulfur content and toning was fairly quick, especially in the deserts of the SW. I tried this decades ago on some cull dimes and found it worked best if the dime was briefly dipped or at least the surface dirt washed off. But it was unpredictable as to the outcome. They also said to bake the silver coins in a potato, but I never tried this A friend of mine tried the coin/paper thing with an overlay of a face cutout and we had a nice laugh. Toay he could probably sell it on ebay as a religious article I have learned a lot since then and don't have any kind of dip or cleaner around. I am certainly not recommending any of the above except as a science type of experiment for fun and NOT profit.
I have heard of baking coins in a pototo as well.... I have never tried it myself but I'd be interested to see the results.
I put a 1958 nickel in a 2X2 out on top of the lid to a metal trash can to see if the sun would make it tone into a blackie. So far nothing has happened, been two months. I'm beginning to wonder tho, We had a very severe wind storm the other day and my trash can ended up down in the wash, but the nickel was still on the lid where it had blown off the can......No it was'nt glued on! LOL Everything in the yard was in my neighbors yard except the lid and the coin. and it had not moved from the handle. Spooky!
