Amalgam silvering

Description

A silver gilding technique in which an amalgam of Silver with Mercury is applied to a metal such as Copper or Brass then the metal is heated to flash volatilize the mercury and deposit a thin layer of silver.

Synonyms and Related Terms

fire silvering; Feuerversilberung (Deut.); plateado a la amalgama (Esp.); vuurverzilveren (Ned.); amalgama prateada (Port.)

Authority

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996