[Jewelry making - Article 01050] - Re: [Orchid] Tin-mercury inlay of a cabinet by Hendrik van Soest

[John Donivan]

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    Well, Sophie, you have a real toughie, there. You're dealing with
    more knowledgeable people than I, so I won't pretend to know. It's
    fascinating, though. Some thoughts: Tin Pest should only apply if
    the piece has been frozen - so they say in research. I think the
    golden bullet is the question of where the chlorine came from. To my
    knowlege, that's pretty unusual to have in the process, though the
    book I show below has a couple of formulas with it. And chlorine
    could cause that sort of rot. Unfortunately, it looks like your
    amalgam is rotten, for whatever reason. If that's so, you can polish
    it, seal it, all manner of things, but you can never get the amalgam
    or alloy back together again. That is, without destroying the art.
    You could rebuild it, but that's different from restoring it. I don't
    have the answers, but it's a very interesting problem, I think. I
    looked into a few places I have. One that has many formulas of the
    sort you refer to is: "The Standard Encyclopedia of American
    Formulas" Grosset & Dunlap, Edited by Albert A. Hopkins 1st copyright
    1909, mine is 1953. OOP. One excerpt: One of the older formulas for
    cold plating gives the following mixture: Silver Chloride, 3 parts;
    salt, 3 parts; washed chalk, 2 parts; potash 6 parts. There's also
    mention of an amalgam of silver and tin. This pages 482-3. The book
    is an interesting curiosity, but it has formulas dating back to who
    knows when - you might take a look, if you can find a copy. I could
    send you some pertinent parts, if not. Good Luck!! 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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