Bleach then jewel-luster, wow, a dangerous combination if done exactly in the right dilution.
The extended immersion Jewel-Luster is solely to arrest the very short bleaching process. This can sometimes seriously worsen very quickly if too much bleach is used. High school chemists can handle this nuance. Otherwise you might get unsightly blotchy purple and charcoal hues.
Please bear in mind that I'm by no means recommending this. You could likely get a good sense of it with some AU55 common S-mints, but what may have fooled NGC and PCGS five or ten years ago deceives them less often today. The result of this "trick" isn't a trade secret so much as the relative lack of difference between the results of this process and the paucity of mental images that, perhaps a couple of decades ago, might have been gained from looking at mass-quantities of unfussed-with Morgans in-hand.
Let's not too lost in this technique, primitive as it might be, I posted it only because the originator of this thread expressed his fear of repercussion from his customers or the local US Attorney should he relate something of his own cosmetological processes. He already offers full disclosure when an item like this passes through his hands. C'mon, @Fanny, 'fess up!
I now return control of this thread to someone whom @realone would not credit as being more then the second biggest know-it-all on this Forum
Appreciate your honesty discussing this topic as a learning experience. I don't think many folks would share for fear of linking themselves to the issue. Liver of sulfur, learned something new today. Appears used on jewelry to darken the subject and I guess has been used on many silver coins. Wouldn't doubt I bot a couple of very circulated coins in the past that were darken by this process & done to hide some issues. Jim
I officially linked myself to the issue maybe 8-10 years ago when @JACAC asked me to serve on the PNG Coin Doctoring Definition committee.
I'm much more a conservationist than a coin doctor. I really had a tough time when Bern Nagengast's Dissolve (trichloro-trifluoro-ethane) got banned by the EPA due to it damaging the ozone layer . I've been studying the effects of thin-film interference since I read about it in Wayne Miller's book in 1973. The differences in textures of many date/mm combinations predispose them to taking on various colors at varying intensities. Etc.
Hmmm I thought the PCGS Secure "coin sniffer" was supposed to detect stuff like that.
PCGS's Sniffer has been dead for almost 10 years. Lance.
Sulfur is the element most used in artificial toning. Everybody knows that, it's the delivery systems that are unknown. The vast majority of AT coins going through were seen to continue to "work". QED: it didn't sniff for sulfur byproducts. It's purported that this machine was the 2nd generation prototype for the Theranos blood analyzer.
I'd like to point out that it's a decade or more since @JACAC's observation that the impact of over-grading on the market is orders of magnitude greater than the damage created by AT coins. I discussed some of this, along with doctoring and conservation observations. in some detail with long-time master collector Gene Gardner, who appreciated the irony of referring to myself as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".
Comments
Please bear in mind that I'm by no means recommending this. You could likely get a good sense of it with some AU55 common S-mints, but what may have fooled NGC and PCGS five or ten years ago deceives them less often today. The result of this "trick" isn't a trade secret so much as the relative lack of difference between the results of this process and the paucity of mental images that, perhaps a couple of decades ago, might have been gained from looking at mass-quantities of unfussed-with Morgans in-hand.
Let's not too lost in this technique, primitive as it might be, I posted it only because the originator of this thread expressed his fear of repercussion from his customers or the local US Attorney should he relate something of his own cosmetological processes. He already offers full disclosure when an item like this passes through his hands. C'mon, @Fanny, 'fess up!
I now return control of this thread to someone whom @realone would not credit as being more then the second biggest know-it-all on this Forum
Jim
I'm much more a conservationist than a coin doctor. I really had a tough time when Bern Nagengast's Dissolve (trichloro-trifluoro-ethane) got banned by the EPA due to it damaging the ozone layer
Lance.
I'd like to point out that it's a decade or more since @JACAC's observation that the impact of over-grading on the market is orders of magnitude greater than the damage created by AT coins. I discussed some of this, along with doctoring and conservation observations. in some detail with long-time master collector Gene Gardner, who appreciated the irony of referring to myself as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".