Soldering coins

Hi,

I'd really appreciate any help or advice you can give me. I want to solder some small jump rings onto coins but I'm having problems with the silver coins due to heat burn. The copper ones are fine and come up lovely once I pickle and tumble them but any silver coloured coin - whether it be a sixpence or a current 5p - discolours at the solder stage and I can't seem to get it back to it's glory. I've tried dipping them in magic boric but it doesn't help, I've tried wrapping them in wet cloth but it drops the temperature of the coin so much the solder won't flow, I've tried to clamp something to the coin to act as a heat sink but so far nothing is working. I'm a very amateur solderer so any advice would be much appreciated. I'm using the cooksons easy silver solder in the syringe and a hand held blow torch.

Many thanks in advance,
Melissa

perhaps you should avoid trying to solder 'silver' coins and set them into a ring with prongs. Attachment 12158

Coin are made from various alloys and they can be a problem to solder quite often you will need to polish after soldering, normally it is a better practice to mount coins in a bezel.
I do not know about the UK, in Australia it is unlawful to deface a coin or a bank note that is current legal tender.

Thanks both. I could go down the bevel road but. would rather not. It's fine to add something to a coin here - just not to make a hole etc. Grateful for any further advice. Thank you.

Cooksons actually sell coin mounts: https://www.cooksongold.com/category...unts+for+coins. Dennis.

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Originally Posted by MWilliams

Thanks both. I could go down the bevel road but. would rather not. It's fine to add something to a coin here - just not to make a hole etc. Grateful for any further advice. Thank you.

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Are you sure? It is still defacing to solder something to a current coin.

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Originally Posted by pearlescence

Are you sure? It is still defacing to solder something to a current coin.

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Yes, I have checked. It is fine to do this.

Defacing coinage in the UK hasn't been an offence for some years. What is still an offence is "breaking up" coinage (after a specific date from memory, need to check). I've not found a clear definition of what constitutes breaking up, however (but it's probably hard to do...).

I'm corrected. Just goes to show the value of the £ these days