Thought that might get some peoples attention ! I have an 1855 O Seated Liberty Half which obviously had been overdipped and cleaned. Too bad too as it is a strong XF. Anyway, how can I return this coin so that it "LOOKS" natural? I know that there is no way to resore it really - just going for a natural look and am willing to experiment ... Thoughts?
Some people use chemicals and physical treatments to tone coins in order to hide problems. An MS 62 coin with a ding on the cheek can be toned to hide the hit and bring a higher grade in the eyes of an inexperienced buyer. As a result, two views are current in numismatics and perhaps both are correct, since they are not mutually exclusive. (1) Every time you carry a coin in your pocket, you polish it. Every time you set a coin down, you let it tone. This fact comes from Q. David Bowers. (2) A purist's view might be that whatever happens to a coin in its NATURAL life is "natural." Whatever is done intentionally by a numismatist is artificial. If you take a coin that has been worn flat and shiny and DO ANYTHING to it with the INTENTION of changing its appearance -- including doing NOTHING to it -- you have "artificially retoned" it. That said, the primary chemical in toning is sulphur, which is everywhere in the air in some percentage. If you put sulphur powder (from a hobby shop that sells chemistry set stuff) in Vaseline jelly and make a paste, you can apply that to a silver coin to darken it. I have seen coins that people left in leather bags. The tanning chemicals toned the coin with interesting colors. Some people claim that cigarettes and cigars tone coins nicely -- they do "tone" coins, but how nicely is questionable. To me, it is obvious and unnatural looking yellow brown. Just leaving a coin in a pocket of something you won't wear for a couple of seasons will do that. Some people just put coins on a windowsill in the sun for a couple of months and let nature take its course. If you toss the coin in a desk for 150 years, it will tone, also. In fact, there is a term called "cabinet toning" that refers to the coloring of coins from the wooden collector's cabinets that 19th century gentlemen stored their collections in.
Here's a Web site that talks a bit about this: http://www.enchanted-treasures.com/cleaning/CleaningPage.htm. I don't have any experience myself except using Dellers Darkener on some overcleaned ancient bronzes. I've heard that some people have had success putting silver coins in an envelop and putting the envelope in the sun on a window sill. Apparently the sulfur from the envelope does it.
I have heard, but never tried, that if you take a silver coin and soak it in bleach that it will darken the coin. It certainly doesn't look natural though. I don't know if there are certain degrees of darkening with this process but it seems that there should be. I have a bust half that is EF and it is BLACK. It is certified by the OLD PCI as being cleaned. My best guess is that it was cleaned and retoned in bleach. Jason
When a coin stays in one place for a long time it is affected by that place's micro-climate. The key feature of the microclimates is that they are not homogenous across the entire side of the coin. The edges are closer to the sulpher-laden album board that the central device, for example; this helps cause the concentric rings. The air currents are more vigorous at the high points than down in the details, so there is less interaction with contaminants there. Whenever you did a coin in bleach, gun bluing, or some other liquid, you cannot replicate those differences because the chemicals are in equal contact with all parts of the coin's surface. So, I guess the best advice is to get it into a place that has some reactive chemicals in circulation, remove it from the holder, and let it go about retoning the slow way.
["Byron L Reed" wrote: Whenever you did a coin in bleach, gun bluing, or some other liquid, you cannot replicate those differences because the chemicals are in equal contact with all parts of the coin's surface.] Yeah, that was one of the nails in the coffin of collecting for me, one of the reasons I no longer buy coins. I was in a coin store in a small town, making the rounds, and I had been warned about this dealer who the local club would not even allow to join on threat of other founding members quitting if he did. And he had these silver dollars that someone took gun bluing to and they were ugly as sin. And he said, "Someone will buy them." and he put them in his display case and when I came by the next time, they were gone. So, maybe some fool was parted from his money or maybe someone bought them, stripped them, and then "retoned" them to look "more natural." Either way, it was a rip-off from the get-go, as so much of coin collecting unfortunately is.
I cerainly do no plan on reselling, jus sort of an "adventure in tonng" for me . . . A learning experience if you would . . .
It has been 3 months since you put the wallet on the sill, have you checked the coin for any changes?
Some of them "need" to be resurrected. There is much that has been written here long ago that is still worth learning
