Stabilizing the toning on coins?
dlmtorts
Posts: 743 ✭✭✭
In reading about making coin rings, I read about methods for imparting color on silver using a liver of sulfur solution. I haven't tried it. But, that made me think about stabilizing that color on the ring. Transferring that thought back to coins, is there some method for stabilizing the color of toned coins? Of blast white silver coins? If so, is that doctoring?
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Theoretically, however, removing the toning substance should stop the chemical reaction and more-or-less neutralize the process.
Most any soluble chemical compound can be removed with a decent solvent. I'd think a few rinses in pure acetone would do the trick. Be aware, however, than continued exposure to the environment (such as constant contact with a person's skin) will introduce new chemicals which can continue to tone the silver in question.
Unlike gold, silver is a highly reactive material and as such, it's never truly chemically stable.
From a chemical perspective, coating the surfaces of a coin with lacquer or encasing it in oil probably preserves the surface better than anything.
If you directly cause it, it can in the stick sense be called Doctoring. But it might also be Conservation.
Suggest you read Sunnywoods: Elevation Chronicles post.