Have you ever heard of India ink?

SYRACUSIAN · May 15, 2006 5:06AM

This coin was BBed for Altered Surfaces. Although some numbers and letters can be clearly seen in this photo,on the top of the reverse,in hand it is much less evident, practically undetectable without the use of a strong loupe.The coin still looks BU at first glance, with nice colour and luster, I expected a 63RB on this.

Apparently it was caused by India ink(?), used by collectors in previous decades. I'm still not sure if these were written straight on to the coin, or onto its holder and from there they were transferred to the coin over the years. If anybody can enlighten me, as to what this India ink is, and what was the purpose of its use, I'd really appreciate it.

1jester · May 15, 2006 5:34AM

Sorry to hear about the body bag, Dimitri. India ink is simply black, permanent ink used for many purposes. I've seen many coins/tokens which were inked straight onto the coin, as an identifyer for collectors. It could be worse--sometimes collectors engraved their coins.

goldrush00013 · May 15, 2006 5:51AM

Yeah, I use india ink to mark the location of my artifact finds. This can add as much as 2/3 to the value of some artifacts.
Like this one.

SYRACUSIAN · May 15, 2006 6:07AM

I don't mind the bodybag Jester, but thanks for your kind words. This coin will remain with me instead of being resold, it's not as if I lost a fortune,it was an inexpensive one and a nice one to keep, I never had any of these before. Besides, I still get to keep its nice photo, despite the BB, not a total waste of money afterall.

But what is India ink exactly? A special ink, like the invisible ones used in spy movies?

If it's black, how is it that the numbers turned yellow?

1jester · May 15, 2006 6:24AM

Probably because the ink's over a century old. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!

goldrush00013 · May 15, 2006 6:31AM

<< <i>But what is India ink exactly? >>

Essentially it is fine soot which is almost pure carbon and made into ink.

earlwbollinger · May 15, 2006 6:32AM

Well Encyclopedia Britanica stated that India Ink is also called Chinese Ink, black pigment in the form of sticks that are moistened before use in drawing and lettering, or the fluid ink consisting of this pigment finely suspended in a liquid medium, such as water, and a glutinous binder. The sticks or cakes consist of specially prepared lampblack, or carbon black, mixed with a gum or glue and sometimes perfume. India ink was used in China and Egypt centuries before the Christian era and is still valued for the opacity and durability that make it one of the finest of inks.
In India, the carbon black from which India ink is produced is obtained by burning bones, tar, pitch, and other substances.

They used to use the lamp carbon black residue from non-electric lamps in years past as well.

Unfortunately many years ago around the 1800's on into the early 1900's marking the coins with some kind of a attribution number or code was very popular. I think this usually was seen mostly in the museum collections, with codes so they could cross reference to the archeological finds and digs of the time. of course nowadays such things are frowned upon.

farthing · May 15, 2006 7:46AM

The number could be an accession number from a museum. Collectors also were known to mark their items.

I have several Conder tokens with numbers inked on them.
This is a Warwickshire Birmingham Halfcrown token - DH1

ROBERTB · May 15, 2006 7:51AM

If I'm not mistaken India ink has also been used to make tattoos.

AuldFartte · May 15, 2006 8:18AM

I've also heard that museums use India ink to mark pieces in thier collections, including coins as well as artifacts.

ajaan · May 15, 2006 10:04AM

Great icon farthing.

Ricke · May 15, 2006 11:06AM

I used to use india ink for pen and ink art - it has a nice quality to it, but I never thought it would fix to a metal coin... it must have sat and dried for weeks. I wonder if acetone would clear up the problem.

ajaan · May 15, 2006 11:09AM

<< <i>I wonder if acetone would clear up the problem. >>

It won't.

Ricke · May 15, 2006 11:10AM

<< <i>It won't. >>

mr. know-it-all

Steve27 · May 15, 2006 9:13PM

"Indian ink (or India ink in American English) is a simple black ink once widely used for writing and printing, and now more commonly used for drawing, especially when inking comics.

Early treatises on the arts refer to black carbon ink that was prepared by the ancient Chinese and Egyptians. The basis of the ink was a black carbon pigment in an aqueous adhesive or binding medium. Sometime before the 12th century, Eraclius, in his De Coloribus et Artibus Romanorum, presented a set of directions for making several types of carbon inks, including one similar to the Indian ink of China, made from the soot of burning resin or wood. Different types of wood will create different-colored inks. In an English volume on handwriting of 1581, Theophilus presented a recipe for a carbon ink:

To make Inke in haste.

In hast, for a shift when ye have a great neede,
Take woll, or wollen to stand you in steede,
Which burnt in the fyre, the powder beate small:
With vinegar, or water make Inke withall.

As the recipe shows, no binder material is necessary: the carbon molecules are in colloidal suspension and form a waterproof layer after drying; often waterproof shellac is added though.

Indian ink replaced the previously widespread Iron-gall nut ink in the opening years of the 20th century.

Caution: Indian ink is usually not suitable for fountain pens: it will readily clog the pen. An exception to this is Pelikan Fount India, which does not contain shellac.

See also: pen and ink.

Indian ink can also be used for home made tattoos, by drawing on the preferred design and then stabbing over the ink with a sharp sewing pin.
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History

The Chinese invented and perfected Indian ink. Originally designed for blacking the surfaces of raised stone-carved hieroglyphics, the ink was a mixture of soot from pine smoke and lamp oil mixed with the gelatin of donkey skin and musk. The ink invented by the Chinese philosopher, Tien-Lcheu (2697 B.C.), became common by the year 1200 B.C."

SYRACUSIAN · May 15, 2006 9:27PM

Wow, thank you Steve and everybody else, I feel like an expert on India ink now.

ColinCMR · May 15, 2006 10:32PM

It surely has a long history!

theboz11 · May 16, 2006 3:24AM

Everything I every wanted to know

Have you ever heard of India ink?

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