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How do you "Antique" a gold plated part? [New York] 

August 22, 2007

I would like to antique a gold plated part. Any suggestions on proper technique or chemical?

Robert Baxter
Buyer - Chester, NY

I don't have much aesthetic sense, but I do know that a key to natural-looking aesthetics as well as durability is that you want only the recesses dark, not the high spots. This can be done by chemically darkening the whole item and then relieving (buffing the darkening off of the high spots).

As for how to chemically or electrochemically darken it, letter 1215 is a start, and other alternatives include selectively silver plating some areas and blackening the silver or -- perhaps best -- selectively plating with a very low karat gold which can be chemically blackened because of its high copper content. Good luck.

If you apply a plating of a dark metal like black nickel, it may be more practical to mask the areas that you don't want darkened than to buff the black nickel plating off of the gold plating.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey