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Old 01-31-2019, 10:48 AM
steve B steve B is offline
Steve Birmingham
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: eastern Mass.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sterling Sports Auctions View Post
Question about the Kleinow you posted. The back lower right print seems to have a blue tone to it compared to the rest of the back. It could be my eye sight.

Also, I thought I heard that you could not actually make a black that they are all really dark blues to make black. Is this true?

The other question i have is about Old Mill backs that look brown but are just an off black. Is it possible this could be the case with these OMs?

Lee

Closer to the reverse. Black is incredibly easy to make. It's generally carbon black or lampblack, both Carbon in different forms. Mix with a carrier or some hardening oil, and you've got black ink.

Blue is marginally tougher. Early blues were often ground Lapis Lazuli in the same carrier. Later ones were a chemical dye. 1910 ish, it's a coin toss as to which one was used.
My chemistry set had one experiment that made a chemical blue that could be changed to black and changed back to blue. It was a long time ago, and I don't recall what it was made of, but it was in a kids chemistry set so it wasn't difficult.
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