Nickel Silver Antiquing

I am asking for a friend since I don’t work with nickel silver, a
good method for antiquing nickel silver such as done with liver of
Sulphur on sterling? Is it even possible to give an antique look to
nickel silver? He brought me a small pendant he had made and I tried
everything from LOS to Silver Black and neither worked.I told him
that there may be a different patina process for nickel silver that
I’m not aware of.

Thanks in advance, John Barton

There are two (or more) kinds of nickel silver… the cheap one
without nickel and the more expensive with nickel. The last one is
hard to patinate.

If you happen to have the first one this will work: Super Blue (Gun
metal blue from the gun shop) makes it brownish (great for blackening
brass) Silver blackener (that is not lime sulphur) makes it black
grey. These are the easy beat patination processes.

NOTE: I had the most beautiful green patina from old saturated acid
powder (Hera AM99): was sold in Europe in the 80ties as an
alternative to (sulphuric acid) pickle (abbeizmittel). I have tiny
bit left and cherish it, because that green is incredible! Somebody
knows if it is still produced?

Peter Deckers
New Zealand

NOTE: I had the most beautiful green patina from old saturated
acid powder (Hera AM99): was sold in Europe in the 80ties as an
alternative to (sulphuric acid) pickle (abbeizmittel). I have tiny
bit left and cherish it, because that green is incredible!
Somebody knows if it is still produced? 

Yes, no problem: Suppliers still have it on stock. It seems that
this is mostly sold for dental laboratory work, see for example
www.dt-shop.com If they don’t deliver to NZ, give me a shout and I
can handle this for you.

Best,
Andreas

Is it even possible to give an antique look to nickel silver? may
be a different patina process for nickel silver that I'm not aware
of. 

Hi John, heat with your torch, no chemicals needed, you will get a
range of colours so practise on a scrap bit first to see if it’s
what you want,

cheers, Christine in Sth Australia

I am asking for a friend since I don't work with nickel silver, a
good method for antiquing nickel silver such as done with liver of
Sulphur on sterling? 

You know, I never thought about it. It’s basically a brass with a
high nickle content. You could try some of the gun bluing solution
using steel wool as a dauber. That works on brass or bronze.

Ron Charlotte – Gainesville, FL

Nickel silver is 65Cu18Ni17Zn. When you expose it to sulfur fumes it
resists discoloration much better than standard sterling due to the
protection of Copper from nickel and zinc. It is very similar to a
nickel white gold in that regard. I found that it slowly turns a dark
grey color in sulfur fumes.

Sam Davis
Stern-Leach
Attleboro, MA

Copper plate using old pickle, liver of sulphur, and buff highlights.

Jeff
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand