Andrew's post, incorporating quotes from Denzel Wraight, raises some questions for me.



>>>Obviously the varnish is used both to change the colour to golden and to stop the silver from oxidising.



Is not silver tarnish caused by exposure to light, rather than air?  Does the varnish in some way prevent a certain band or color of light from penetrating, thus preventing tarnishing of the silver?  (Is "oxidation" in silver the same thing as "tarnish?")



>>>HIgh material costs often affected decoration choices. The vivid Vermilion paint we see in French instruments came from an expensive pigment, and many instruments used what is often referred to as bole instead, a cheaper, but less brilliant red colour instead.



I seem to recall that Vermillion pigment was not only expensive, but also highly toxic.  Or was it bole?  I think it contains arsenic, and for this reason is difficult or impossible to obtain nowadays.  Is this correct?  Has modern science found a suitable substitute?  (Wasn't there cyanide or "Prussian blue" in some blue and green pigments too?  Being a painter, like being a hatter, must have been a risky profession in those days!)



>>>For example you can buy what is called green gold leaf, or lemon gold leaf, and so on. So gilding can have a wide range of effective shades.



I've not seen this, but I assume there is some alloyed metal used as a coloring agent?  Of course, pure gold is always the same color.  I would think the gold would have to be *very* thin to allow an underlying color to "bleed through" (in fact I would not have even thought it possible--it seems very opaque).  I remember when my instrument was being decorated, Pete insisted on painting the moldings before gilding them.  He knew there would be little imperfections in the gilding of the highly irregular surface, and wanted Vermillion to "peek through" in those spots.



dk



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