To Frost Silver
To Frost Silver names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
To Frost Silver The article has to be carefully annealed either in a charcoal fire
American Watchmaker and Jeweler (1892)
Important: Safety Warning
This page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
The article has to be carefully annealed either in a charcoal fire, or with a blowpipe before a gas flame, which will oxidize the alloy on the surface, and also destroy all dirt and greasy substances adhering to it, and then boiled in a copper pan containing a solution of of dilute sulphuric acid--of 1 part of acid to about 30 parts of water. The article is then placed in a vessel of clean water, and scratch-brushed, or scoured with fine sand; after which the annealing or boiling-out is repeated which will in most cases be sufficient to produce the desired result. If a very delicate dead surface such as watch dials, etc., is required, the article is, before the second annealing, covered with a pasty solution of potash and water, and immediately after the annealing, plunged in clean water, and then boiled out in either sulphuric acid solution, or a solution of 1 part cream tartar and 2 parts common salt to about 30 parts of water. If the article is of a low quality of silver, it is well to add some silver solution, such as is used for silvering, to the second boiling out solution. If the article is very inferior silver, the finishing will have to be given by immersing it in contact with a strip of zinc in a silver solution.
To Frost Silver To produce a frosted surface upon polished silver use
American Watchmaker and Jeweler (1892)
Important: Safety Warning
This page contains a formula or preparation using substances now known to be dangerously toxic, such as arsenic, mercury, lead, or cyanide compounds. Exposure to these substances can cause severe poisoning, permanent injury, or death.
In addition, this page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
To produce a frosted surface upon polished silver use cyanide of potassium with a brush; the silver should not be handled during the process, but held between pieces of boxwood or lancewood. The proportion should be, 1 ounce of cyanide of potassium in 1 pint of water.
To Frost Silver Silver goods may be frosted and whitened by preparing
American Watchmaker and Jeweler (1892)
Important: Safety Warning
This page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Silver goods may be frosted and whitened by preparing a pickle of sulphuric acid 1 dram, water 4 ounces; heat it and immerse the silver articles until frosted as desired; then wash off clean, and dry with a soft linen cloth, or in fine clean sawdust. For whitening only, a small quantity of acid may be employed.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When the American Watchmaker and Jeweler set out these three recipes in 1892, a matte or "frosted" finish on silver was got chemically — repeated annealing and boiling-out in dilute sulphuric acid, or a potassium cyanide solution brushed on while the piece was held in boxwood tongs so no finger touched it. Today the same look is produced mechanically in seconds by bead blasting or glass-bead peening, or by wire-brushing and satin wheels, with no acid or cyanide involved at all. Where pickling is still used, jewellers generally reach for sodium bisulphate rather than sulphuric acid, and cyanide work of any kind is now tightly regulated and confined to shops with ventilation and handling controls the 1892 text never imagines. The chemistry described is sound; it is the safety assumptions that have not survived.
Written for this edition, 2026.