Gold Seal Plating in Oakland?

[corey r]

I found a plater within driving distance of where I live who claims to have plated for daguerreotypes before. The place is called Gold Seal Plating in Oakland California and I was wondering if anyone here had worked with them in the past?

Also they say that with a plating of a half mil of silver things tend not to stay a bright and suggest a thinner coating with a thin plating of nickel first. Wondering if any of you have any experiences with this as well. I will be working with the Becquerel process if that makes any difference (I understand that it affects the silver in a thinner layer than does mercury development)

I’m new to this whole thing and do really appreciate any help here.

[dagist]

Corey,

The information you were given from your plater gives me reason to doubt his expertise. I would be very careful about using a plater who has difficulty plating a half mil of silver and tries to talk you into a thinner coating. An experienced plater that knows what they’re doing can put on almost any thickness of silver. It all comes down to experience, and knowing the correct current level and plating time for his particular set-up.

Electroplating is an art unto itself and is as challenging as making a technically perfect daguerreotype. The formulas used to mix the chemicals in the electroplating bath are different from plater to plater, as are the results.

The second reason for being skeptical of this plater is his suggestion that you put on a coating of nickel before the silver. If you are supplying him with polished copper, there is no need for a coating of nickel first. Nickel is needed if you are going to electroplate silver on substrates other than copper so that the silver will adhere properly, but I have never heard of it being needed for plating silver on copper.

I would suggest you contact Thad Thompson at Zapffe Silversmiths in Seattle , Washington (206-364-1919 or toll free at 866-495-2505). I have been very happy with the quality of their work, and silver plating is their specialty. They pay great attention to detail, their turn-around-time was extraordinarily fast when they knew I was on a tight deadline, and most important of all, you can talk to the guy who actually does the plating, Thad Thompson, who’s one of the owners and has countless years of experience, along with being a genuinely nice guy who will answer any questions you have. They have a website at http://www.silvergiftstore.com.

Cheers,

Rob McElroy

Buffalo, NY

[photolytic]

Rod has excellent advice. Seek out an experienced silver plater.

Do a little research on the internet to familiarize yourself with basic electroplating concepts.

Although silver plater formulas differ, after a thorough industrial wide test, most silver platers agreed that silver cyanide baths produced the best coating.

I think you may have been misled about relative effects of Becquerel vs mercury processing on the silver layer. Pobboravsky (1971) reported that the silver halide coating on a plate fumed to the second yellow tinged with red is 110 nm thick whereas the coating on a plate fumed to the first yellow cycle is only 30nm thick. So unless you are using very thinly coated Becquerel plates, you may be consuming 2-3 times as much silver as you would for a mercury process plate. Granted there are occasions when even thicker coatings may be needed for both processes but generally speaking more silver is consumed in the Becquerel process.

Some Daguerreotypists on this forum have reported that they are able to make 2 or 3 Becquerel images on their plates before reaching the copper substrate. It has been my experience that mercury process plates generally last through 5 to 8 cycles before the silver wears through.

[corey r]

Thank you both for the input. I was skeptical about the nickel plating as well as the suggestion of a thinner plating of silver. Thanks for the clarification on the Becquerel process’ effect on the silver. If anyone is in SF this weekend I will be trying to make it to the Binh Danh show.

[corey r]

Rob,

Thank you again. Thad was extremely helpful and I’ll be sending out my plates first thing next week. Its all getting closer…

[Author]

Posts