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how do I turn cleaned silver coins black?

mcjakemcjake Posts: 1 ✭
in Q & A Forum

I have some cleaned barber coins and I'm trying to give them a black petina. Any suggestions?

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  • WilliamFWilliamF Posts: 831 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Please noooo... :cry:

    They shouldn't have been cleaned in the first place, but since that is in the past I suppose it doesn't really matter what you do to them now, but I can tell you one thing; most serious collectors will never appreciate a cleaned and/or retoned coin, they're basically ruined now and will never be "original" again.
    I say this not to be harsh and criticize you but to give you an idea of what not to do in the future...

    If you're set on turning them black I've heard that some people will put them in a bag with boiled egg yolks for a few days, basically anything with sulfur will cause a chemical reaction on the surface of the coins and make them darker...

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  • hfjacintohfjacinto Posts: 871 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Depends on how they were cleaned. If just dipped, you can put them in a shoe closet or by the sun or wrapped in some paper types that have sulfur.

    If the coins were polished, you are pretty much out of luck. If cleaned and they look good, put them in an album and enjoy them for what they are.

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  • Mr_SpudMr_Spud Posts: 5,339 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Black patina isn’t the best look. If you put them in an album and leave them alone for about 10 years, they will probably develop some peripheral toning that will make them look a bit more normal looking. Sometimes they re-tone and the eye appeal improves, other times the cleaned surface make them so reactive that they end up looking more unnatural. Metals that tone slowly often develop a protective skin that slows down future reactions to atmospheric acids and sulphides, if you clean them it exposes pure metal with no protective skin and the coins can retone too quickly and look all purplish and fake looking

    Mr_Spud

  • Married2CoinsMarried2Coins Posts: 549 ✭✭✭

    Don't clean your coins.

  • jdillanejdillane Posts: 2,365 ✭✭✭

    Cleaned coins will retone over time if stored in a cardboard coin album, paper flip or similar that has sulfur in the material. I once bought a PCGS AU55 bust half. Hammered strike and no wear but was black and lifeless. I cracked her out and gave an acetone bath. The black washed off instantly revealing a proof-like bustie with some hairlines in the fields. Resubmitted and she got an MS62, albeit before proof-like designations were offered.

    I don't know what was applied to make her black but she's much more attractive after the acetone.

  • JWPJWP Posts: 22,229 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The only thing i can say is " TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE IT RIGHT"! :s

    USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
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