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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;afantiques, post: 2061358, member: 71234&quot;]No, in 1813 electricity was no more than a lab curiosity. Plating as we know it is done with electricity. It&nbsp; was one of the earliest practical uses though.</p><p><br /></p><p>Gilding would be either with gold leaf or in the case of a copper coin, probably fire gilt. You dissolve some gold in mercury (yes, solid gold will dissolve in mercury) and coat the item with the mixture. It will look silvered, but if you put it in a very hot oven at over or about 350 degrees Centigrade, the mercury will vapourise and leave the gold on the metal object. The effect is probably the nicest looking and most durable gilding possible, the quality depending on the amount of gold in the mercury amalgam.</p><p><br /></p><p>Do not try this at home. The process has been commercially illegal since the 1850s, when it was realised how toxic mercury vapour could be&nbsp; over a long term, too many workers were manifesting strange symptoms, as in a the hatmaking trade mercury users became the source of the saying &#039;Mad as a Hatter&#039;.</p><p><br /></p><p>The process is still used unofficially to restore damaged fire gilt antiques, but those who do it do it outdoors and stay upwind of the &#039;oven&#039;. They also don&#039;t do it very often, as you rarely need to do this sort of restoration.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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