The French brass castings and articles of sheet brass are made of cheap, light colored brass, and possess a fine golden color which is not produced by gold varnish, but by a coating of copper. This gives them a finer appearance, so that they sell better.
This golden color can be easily produced at very little expense and with but little trouble by the following process. Fifty grammes of caustic soda and 40 grammes of milk sugar are dissolved in a liter of water and boiled for a quarter of an hour. The solution is clear as water at first, but acquires a dark yellow color. The vessel is next taken from the fire, placed on a wooden support, and 40 grammes of a cold concentrated solution of blue vitriol stirred in. A red precipitate of suboxide of copper is at once formed, and by the time the mixture cools to 167° Fahr., the precipitate will have settled.

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