Patina?

[Wik]

Hey guys. A little while back I bought an EKI (it was posted here so you may recall it) that had an amazing rainbow patina. The more I collect the more I enjoy a real nice patina. I also just got an EKII wide frame that has a sweet patina. If you have the right light it also throws shades of a rainbow look, although not nearly as obvious as the EKI.

So my question is, are most of these patinas from the wear of normal everyday use since WWII, or can they be "artificially" patinaed? There are just so many different looks. Are they just from handeling, or is it from poor storage, or will it eventually get a patina regardless of what steps you take? Just curious about this.




Ryan

[Roglebk]

Hi Ryan, oxidation can come from light, fingerprints, display materials and air pollutions. Always use white cotton gloves whan handling EK's. What kind of oxidation the cross gets depends on the frame material, for example that rainbow color oxide only crosses gets that have neusilber frames with a high grade silver plating and then laquered.

[Flemming]

Guess it comes from the storage, all the patina. Just look at normal silver ware, if you do not polish that.

The only time the german Soldier actually did wear their EK2 was on a medal bar, and not for everday use.
For every day use they had a piece of ribbon attached to the uniform through the 2nd button hole.

/Flemming

[Wik]

The only time the german Soldier actually did wear their EK2 was on a medal bar, and not for everday use.
For every day use they had a piece of ribbon attached to the uniform through the 2nd button hole.

/Flemming

Right, i'm fimiliar with this, but still the award has been around in general use for roughly 70 years so I am sure most have seen plenty of handeling. Good point on the silver ware too.


@ Carl, thanks for the info about the materials. I need a black light, white gloves and a lens for looking closely for flaws and such. Guess I better get cracking on that haha


Ryan