04-24-2012, 09:12 PM
Robert,
Thanks for the reply. As far as gilt silver is concerned in the Late Period I agree. I also think that both in the Later Roman as well as during the principate, gilding was done by adding mercury to gold......this amalgam applied etc....you know the process.
However, what I am trying to find out is IF silvering was only conducted with foil/sheet or as a parallel method made into an amalgam with mercury, applied, then heated to remove the mercury and deposit the silver.
I know this would not have worked on iron but on copper alloy objects, it seems plausible.
I was told by a silver plating specialist here in the US that has studied ancient techniques (so he says) that quadruple plating was performed in the ancient world. In other words, an iron helmet would have been dipped into copper and then the copper covered helmet subsequently dipped in silver several times for a strong thick silver finish. However, over thousands of years in the ground, the silver would wear and appear to be sheet or foil although it was not originally.
I am not sure how much I believe this because there are NO helmets that I know of from any Roman period that appear have been dipped in any molten metal since there is no evidence of the dipping process on the inner part.
Thanks for the reply. As far as gilt silver is concerned in the Late Period I agree. I also think that both in the Later Roman as well as during the principate, gilding was done by adding mercury to gold......this amalgam applied etc....you know the process.
However, what I am trying to find out is IF silvering was only conducted with foil/sheet or as a parallel method made into an amalgam with mercury, applied, then heated to remove the mercury and deposit the silver.
I know this would not have worked on iron but on copper alloy objects, it seems plausible.
I was told by a silver plating specialist here in the US that has studied ancient techniques (so he says) that quadruple plating was performed in the ancient world. In other words, an iron helmet would have been dipped into copper and then the copper covered helmet subsequently dipped in silver several times for a strong thick silver finish. However, over thousands of years in the ground, the silver would wear and appear to be sheet or foil although it was not originally.
I am not sure how much I believe this because there are NO helmets that I know of from any Roman period that appear have been dipped in any molten metal since there is no evidence of the dipping process on the inner part.
"You have to laugh at life or else what are you going to laugh at?" (Joseph Rosen)
Paolo
Paolo
