I have some 1700's Spanish silver bust dollars that have been over-cleaned in my opinion. They have a bright chrome-like finish and don't look natural to me. Is there a way, without damaging the coins, to get back to a more natural silver color?
If they have a chromelike finish they are already damaged , you could leave them in a warm humid place to let them retone . rzage
Yep, a windowsill with the most sun, you can put the coin on an oak board or plank. Remember to rotate the coin every month or so. Only problem being is that the recesses of the coin may not tone as much as the high points and the coin may appear artificially toned.
Since the most likely candidate for the sun's toning effect is UV, I wonder if anyone in the various fields that use high strength germicidal lamps, have tried putting coins under them for a week or so. I have a gemmology UV lamp, but I doubt seriously it is strong enough. JIm
But then again, glass is a good blocker of UV from the sun, so what is there in sun light that has enough energy to activate the metal for toning? Do you people open the window to tone coins ? Jim
Don't forget the heat aspect. The radiant energy absorbed by the coin every day, then cooling off, does more to tone the coins than the UV does.
I don't believe it's the UV rays or light, it's just the exposure to the elements. I leave the toning window cracked.