How to clean Silver Coins?
How to clean Silver Coins? – Cleaning silver coins is certainly an eyebrow-raiser amongst all those silver lovers and investors. The reason is quite simple – silver is prone to tarnish. Numismatists refer to tarnish as patina, which is generally an area of great interest for silver investors. This holds extremely true when the patination takes its eye-appealing form.
If you are too fond of silver coins, never clean them! Make this your thumb rule. Cleaning silver coins usually impairs its surface. Continuous cleaning may cause wear and tear, hampering its appearance. This might result in your silver coins losing their worth and collectible value.
It is generally observed that the cleaned coin surfaces lose their worth and decrease overall value. The decrease may even go beyond 20 to 30%. Sometimes, even more!
Most of the time, we tend to clean the spoiled surfaces harshly. Harsh cleanings with abrasives sometimes reduce its premium by more than half its original value. Most of the cleaned silver coins lost their value due to the harsh cleanings. Ultimately, such damaged pieces can only be made available to trade as bullion content. This might not impact its worth as a bullion vehicle. However, it does lower the cleaned silver coin’s trading potential as a numismatic item.
One of the few moments when cleansing a coin is acceptable is when removing the crud and oxidation from the surfaces of the ancient coins. This is the only method identified in such cases as it becomes crucial for cleaning and polishing them before sale.
While we have some best recommendations for cleaning your tarnished silver coins, we usually recommend not cleansing your silver coins. We do not even endorse it. Incorrectly cleaning your silver coins with abrasive agents or caustic cleaners might cause irreparable damage.
5 Safe Methods for Cleaning Silver Coins
1. Try it with Baking Soda
Of course, baking soda is abrasive! Yet, it remains the most efficient tarnish remover and one of the cheapest daily items found in the kitchen. This is most convenient for all those who want to rinse off their silver coins with a simple DIY at home.
All you need to do is mix your baking soda with sufficient water. Make it a stiff paste to rub against your silver coin surface with your finger or hand. The baking soda scours all the dirt and tarnishes, even from the crevices of your silver coin. It even cleanses the areas around the designs and letterings and can be easily rinsed away with water and once rinsed, dry off the access water with a soft cloth.
2. Toothpaste Could Be Your Next Choice
Toothpaste these days contains abrasives but to a lesser extent than your baking soda’s abrasive nature. This oral hygiene product is quite popular for cleaning the tarnish circles on your silver coins. Your toothpaste will cleanse your silver coins and leave them minty fresh. But yes, they are more expensive than your baking soda. Moreover, toothpaste is packed in easy-to-dispense tubes, and no mixing is required.
You can use a toothbrush to rub the toothpaste onto the stained surface of your silver coins. This cleanses the dirt, tarnish, or other surface imperfections. The stained zone, therefore, appears soft before cleansing. You can then rinse it under clean water and dry it with a soft cloth.
3. Lemon JuiceMight be a Better Option
Let us move on a bit from the physical abrasives to something that is chemically acidic. Lemon Juice is a form of a miraculous household ingredient to zest up and clean all surfaces. Traditionally, lemon juice has always been used for cleaning silver coins. It is a boon for rinsing away the dirt and tarnish as well.
As it is not an abrasive, it might not leave behind deep scratches or striations. However, the acidic nature of your lemon juice might still eat away a fine layer of metal from its top surface.
And yes, when used in a non-corrosive vessel, it is quite swift at cleansing your tarnished silver coins. If the lemon juice cleaning is not efficient enough, you can enhance its cleaning efficacy by adding a pinch of salt or baking soda. Next, rinse and cleanse your silver coin with tepid water and use a dry, soft cloth to wipe it off.
4. A Dip of Silver is Also Good
Amongst all the controversies is using a silver dip to wash off your tarnished silver coins. A silver dip is less abrasive or caustic than all covered above. Yet, purists define cleaning or dipping a silver coin as an artificial alteration that should be maximally avoided.
Such dips vary in their strength and application and, if applied, should only be used according to the instructions on its outer pack.
5. White Vinegar Could Be Your Last Resort
Another common kitchen ingredient to use for cleaning your silver coins is white vinegar. Just like lemon juice, white vinegar also acts as a deep cleanser. Its acidic makeup and potential for neutralizing odors work well with tarnished metal surfaces. While using white vinegar, adding any additive to the bath of cleansing your silver coins is unnecessary. This method is quite effective in removing both grit and tarnish from your silver coin surface.
Other than this, you might even add baking soda to your white vinegar. The combination of both makes it a perfect fit to cleanse the surface of your tarnished silver coin. Although it is always a trigger when baking soda and white vinegar are mixed, they are best cleansers.
If you search online for effective ways to clean your silver coins, you will find many of them. Hundreds of books are available on the philosophies covering cleansing your silver coins and the techniques for doing so.
Ultimately, we recommend not to clean your silver coins yourself. Remember, trying it out on your own is quite numismatically risky. You can get it done under the guidance of a professional conversationist or restorer to preserve these silver coins.
