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How can I cause gold plating to tarnish, or seem "aged"

Hi, I work on some old musical instruments. Occasionally, I need to replace some gold, and would like to know a way, chemically or otherwise, to artificially age the gold ;-)

How can I CAUSE gold plating to quickly tarnish, or seem "aged ?"

James Wagner
- Soulsbyville, California, USA
2007

Oil it very very sparingly (any edible oil or fat),then heat it to 300-400 °C (with hot air gun).Instead oil you can use 2-20% shellac solution.Second option is thiosulphate based patina(dissolve 240 gm sodium thiosulphate [on eBay or Amazon] /25 gm copper acetate [affil links]/30 gm citric acid [on eBay or Amazon] /1 lit water,immerse object in solution,colouring time up to 4 hours)Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Cerovski vrh Croatia
2007

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