Successful copper toning experiment (now with less flamethrowers!)

I decided to use my very basic knowledge about chemistry and try to tone these two polished coins and the results we're absolutely stunning.




I used an alkaline water based liquid that doesn't have any chemicals that may damage copper, I coated the coins with the liquid and put them in coin pockets (picture below, not mine but I used identical pockets) for four days.


Here are the results: (no filters or any other modifications have been used for these photos, only cropping)
EDIT: I will update this experiment every 4 days until the end of this month.




Saliva, there you go.

I have no intention to swap or sell any of the coins that I have experimented on, I don't invest in coins, only collect them.

Thread edited to be tumblr compatible.

Nice...although maybe a little harsh on the person that donated the coins to describe them as "crap"

Quote: "neilithic"​Nice...although maybe a little harsh on the person that donated the coins to describe them as "crap"

​It wasn't a reference to the coins, i'll remove that as it apparently offends you.

These are in my top 10 favourite coins, couldn't have won anything better than these.

That's actually a very nice Essequibo 1/2 stiver !

I've got a few copper coins that could do with this treatment. Right now there's no way they're getting flips and going into an album. They've been on a windowsill on brown paper for a year now

Quote: "Mark240590"​That's actually a very nice Essequibo 1/2 stiver !
​
​I've got a few copper coins that could do with this treatment. Right now there's no way they're getting flips and going into an album. They've been on a windowsill on brown paper for a year now

​You've got to keep the brown paper oiled slightly. The sun does the rest.....

Quote: "pnightingale"​

Quote: "Mark240590"​That's actually a very nice Essequibo 1/2 stiver !
​​
​​I've got a few copper coins that could do with this treatment. Right now there's no way they're getting flips and going into an album. They've been on a windowsill on brown paper for a year now

​​You've got to keep the brown paper oiled slightly. The sun does the rest.....

​I haven't tried this but I'm assuming you're right that you need to oil the paper, because it's the natural oils from people's hands that toned the coins originally before they were polished

So does this method mean that the coin is now a saliva stiver

Quote: "neilithic"​So does this method mean that the coin is now a saliva stiver

​Half sliver, actually.

What I have noticed is that oil always leaves marks on the coin and doesn't create oxidation that's as permanent as with this method. I tried rubbing the toning off the stiver but it didn't do anything to it.

What I noticed also is that this way you can easily create rainbow toning.

Quote: "pnightingale"​

Quote: "Mark240590"​That's actually a very nice Essequibo 1/2 stiver !
​​
​​I've got a few copper coins that could do with this treatment. Right now there's no way they're getting flips and going into an album. They've been on a windowsill on brown paper for a year now

​​You've got to keep the brown paper oiled slightly. The sun does the rest.....

​What kind of oil?

I have a few coppers I would like to try toning.

Remington gun oil is what I'm using because it's something I always have at hand but I reckon any light oil would work. Spread a few drops over the paper and let it dry for a few days then put it on a sunny windowsill and forget about it for a few months apart from turning the coins over once in a while. It's all about creating a micro climate which mimics and accelerates the conditions which caused the original toning.

I'm blessed with more patience than energy so this is the method that works for me. As we can see here and in other posts there are plenty of more direct options giving excellent results.

update: 7th day

It seems that here's no reason to continue this as all the ugly pink colour is gone.




The half stiver developed some rainbow toning while the 10c had some verdigris dust around the lettering, I removed it simply by brushing it off.

Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between these coins and an unpolished one.
Guess I won't be skipping the polished coins that come across from now on.

Let's compare:

Would you be able to tell which one has been polished?

Makes me wonder how they would fare if they were gently rinsed in Bicarbonate of Soda dissolved in water, toning should be able to tolerate that.

The key to increasing toning from sunlight is heat, metals will respond better the hotter they are. Place the coin on something black, like a small black metal tray. There is not much of a chance that it will cause burn to the paper, especially if coated with oil. I have done this a few times but now I use heat combined with certain quenching methods to tone copper, I get the metal itself to react more than get whatever is on the surface to tone.

I have always loved rainbow toning, and when performing verdigris removal gives a rainbow light show through each heating stage.