Dissolve gold in aqua regia, and into the solution dip linen rags; take them out and dry them gently; then burn them to tinder; after you have well polished your work with this, take a cork, and dipping it into common salt and water, and afterwards into the tinder, rub your work well, and its surface will be gilt.

Fine Black

Put six pounds of chip logwood into your copper, with as many veneers as it will conveniently hold, without pressing too tight; fill it with water, and let it boil slowly for about three hours; then add half a pound of powdered verdigris, half a pound of copperas, and four ounces of bruised nut-galls; fill the copper up with vinegar as the water evaporates; let it boil gently two hours each day, till the wood is dyed through.

Another

Procure some liquor from a tanner's pit, or make a strong decoction of oak-bark, and to every gallon of the liquor add a quarter of a pound of green copperas, and mix them well together: put the liquor into the copper, and make it quite hot, but not to boil; immerse the veneers in it, and let them remain for an hour; take them out, and expose them to the air till it has penetrated its substance; then add some logwood to the solution, place your veneers again in it, and let it simmer for two or three hours; let the whole cool gradually, dry your veneers in the shade, and they will have acquired a very fine black.