Does anyone know if the bleach trick to tranish silver coins and give them a dark old apperance with bright highlights would work on coins like and Ike or non silver kennedy half?? If not what is a good fast way to make these coins look aged?? I know they will not look the same as the silver coins, but I have seen some really "dirty" coins that looks pretty good with all the contrast and detail caused by the high and low spots.

Stevie D

I searched google for "how to make coins look old" and one link is:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?......8AAmiL4o

Thanks, I didn't really find anything usefull when I searvched, but I'm going to do some tests and what kind of results I get.

Iron does not tarnish as such, it either turns orange with rust, or brown. A gun shop can sell you a bluing kit for repairing worn finishes. Other than that I remember an article in one of Lautard's books about 'browning' a gun barrel. If I remember correctly, boiling the rusted piece turned the rust brown and stable. You might try searching for ways to 'antique' or 'patina' metal.

What makes a cast iron pot black?

Soot.

Cast Iron has a good deal of carbon in the metal, this is burnt out or reduced when making it into steel.

Cast Iron has a good deal of carbon in the metal, this is burnt out or reduced when making it into steel.

Cast Iron and Steel are not the same.

More to the point, Ike Dollars and modern Kennedy Halves are not iron. I don't think I have seen any that naturally corroded, or for that matter discolored. Apparently the copper-nickel alloy they are clad in is extremely stable.

Remove most of the carbon and you have steel. As far as iron in coins, I assumed the original poster was talking about non-USA coins.

No, he specifically mentioned Ike dollars and clad Kennedy halfs. They are definitely an alloy, but I don't have an answer yet on how to "age" them.

I think the original poster was referring to what many call "clad" coins, and simply mistaken in calling them "iron clad".
He spoke specifically of Ikes and Kennedys, which would mean the standard cupro-nickel clad coins we carry around in our pockets, and which simply don't seem to tarnish the way the old silver coins did.

I have never seen a non-silver half look anything worse than a little dull. The highlighting the poster was talking about might be done chemically, but I would just give them a wash with acrylic paint. The nickel-copper alloy they use is very stable and will resist tarnish.