Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

I know that as a rule you should not clean silver or gold coins because it can lessen their value to a buyer. What I am wondering is if this is also true for silver bars and rounds. And I am speaking generally, because I would think that certain ones should probably always be left as is. Bars and rounds tend to not have dates or mint marks and I am curious to know whether it hurts or helps or doesn't matter if someone cleans them.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

apmex sells this
http://www.apmex.com/Resources/Catal...oducts/787.jpg

http://www.apmex.com/Product/787/Coi...el_Luster.aspx

I have only cleaned a couple bars with My wifes silver polish that she has/

I don't think you should Clean "Colectables" cause "Collectors" Don't like them cleaned

Im Not really a Collector.

Im a hoarder and a stasher:wink:

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

I use this, just set in the internal basket, works great.

http://www.organize.com/flatsildip.html?OVRAW=buy%20haggerty's%20silver%20 cleaner&OVKEY=silver%20cleaner%20dip&OVMTC=advance d&OVADID=41422096511&OVKWID=279075105511

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Collectors like toning and they do not like cleaned silver bars. I did not know that until about 6 weeks ago. I do not clean any of my silver art bars. I just leave them just the way they are.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

I'm in the camp of leaving coins as they are unless they have some crud/dirt which can be easily removed with detergent and a very soft brush.

The best trick I have found for cleaning silver jewelry is a combination of boiling water, aluminum foil and common table salt. I have used it on necklaces and a mesh bracelet that was completely black with tarnish.

I do it like this:

1. Line a 6 X 6 X 4 inch plastic refrigerator box (Tupperware style) with crumpled aluminum foil.

2. Put in about two or three tablespoons of salt.

3. Fill with boiling water and stir a little to help disolve the salt.

4. Put what you want to clean in the hot mixture and the oxidation will disappear almost immediately.

It seems the oxidation on silver is mostly sulphur and a whif of the water used to clean your item will certainly smell like sulphur.

Hope that helps.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Try baking soda in place of salt otherwise the process is the same and you shouldn't smell the sulphur.

:smile:

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Never thought about the baking soda. Seems like it has as many uses as Chuck Norris' tears.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

I used a variation of the above mix in the aluminum foil. I used Tide detergent dissolved in the hot water. Got the hint on these forums. It works!

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

It's fine to clean bars, rounds, and modern government minted bullion coins: personal choice. Just dont use anything that mars the surface or removes metal. A quick dip in liquid silver jewelry works well. Check @ Walmart jewelry section. Follow mfr's directions, pat dry, & store.

Do NOT clean (remove the patina) from circulatd "junk" silvr coins. They will look faunky...don't do it.

My 2-cents

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

I recommend not cleaning with baking soda either, because even if you mix it into a fine paste, it will easily scratch silver. Same goes with certain kinds of toothpaste. Anything with fine grain to it will really scratch silver, because of this reason many coin poppers/metal detector enthusiasts do not even wipe silver coins clean when they come out of the ground. I'm gonna test your guys method of quick dip>wash>repeat to see if I can clean bullion in that manner and not have any yellowing. I refuse to clean numismatic coins except my grinder walking liberty half junk silver bullion.

Oh btw, I just joined this forum and have been browsing for a while, so its awesome to finally be here posting with all of you guys =)

:4_8_4v:

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

I appreciate the feedback. I picked up some rather funky Englehard bars that I would like to see cleaned up, but wasn't sure if cleaning bars was as taboo as cleaning coins. I'll try a couple of the dip methods and see how they work. Welcome LWK. If it sometimes seems a little crazy around here, that's only because it is.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

If you'll go back and read twenty4karat's post, I think you will see that he was suggesting replacing table salt with baking soda - a method which I have yet to try. I'm sure he didn't mean to avoid the whole chemical process and scour a silver item with baking soda.

Toothpaste either! "You'll wonder where the yellow (silver) went with Pepsodent!" Is that jingle still around?

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Borax, laudry deteregent, baking soda, salt and even collected slug slime will do the job. As a chemist we call this "sacrificial oxidation" where the Al is oxidized to reduce the Ag back to it's elemental self.

There is a great hands on experiment you can to do show the "redox potential" of this reaction; chew on a small piece of Al foil. :s1: If you have composite fillings it won't work, but if you have amalgam filllings you should feel a nice surge of electrons as the silver oxide in your fillings are reduced to elemental silver.

Have fun! the slug slime was just to see if you were listening.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

What's your take on current govt bullion. I have 2 2007 silver maples with UGLY unnatural toning from improper storage.

Here are the two coins (if I did this right):

The area around the VER in SILVER is silver, pretty much the rest is this ugly yellowish tone
http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/DSCF0014.jpg


http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/DSCF0010.jpg


So what do you all think? Try and clean these somehow?:36_1_32v:

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Dip em - you can't hurt bullion.

ST

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

My grandson (he's 8) just cleaned and polished all his coins and his 3 silver art bars. Most of the coins are ones he picked out of a 'treasure chest" at the coin shop (12/$1). No harm done there, but I did stress that many silver collectors like the natural toning and he could be reducing the value of any silver art bars he has. He told me he's NEVER GOING TO SELL THEM and he wants them to be shiny.

I got him a digital scale for Xmas. He really likes weighing his silver. He was upset that his 25-gram silver Eisenhower bar only weighed 24.8g.

My wife and I are really happy to see him collecting silver instead of those idiotic Pokemon cards. We had him for 2 days last week and all he wanted to do was go to coin shops.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

1. Line a 6 X 6 X 4 inch plastic refrigerator box (Tupperware style) with crumpled aluminum foil.

2. Put in about two or three tablespoons of baking soda.

3. Put pieces on top of baking soda, fill with boiling water.

4. Rinse completely.

Just tried the above method, note I used baking soda, on several batches. It worked best for *me* to boil the water, put the baking soda on the tin foil and the pieces on top of the baking soda. Then just add water, give it a few minutes and rinse. Worked very well. Thanks.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

There are some better methods mentioned. Ones that don't try to be abrasive. If you need a down and dirty way you can use toothpaste. Rubbing toothpaste and cleaning the coin will take most of all stains and dirt off. Again, if it is something nice it will leave marks. I wouldn't want to use toothpaste on an almost new Silver Eagle or something, though an old dime or bar cleans up nice.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Note in the above I didn't rub anything at all. I just let the chemical action take place for a few minutes. An ASE or a bar are bullion so you can do it, an old dime is numismatic so never clean beyond wiping the blood off, (if you had to pry it out of *my* fingers).

(BTW: GoldenE, I did this to some of my Maples that were getting that tea-stain patina in the RCM plastic and will be doing the rest as time permits. :emotions16: )

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

MISRy, even though we are talking about silver and not going off topic too far have you ever tried your method on copper?

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Sorry no. If fact I can't think of any copper I might have that isn't numi.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

MISRy, are you saying you used the toothpaste method on your silver maple? or one of the previous "less abrassive" methods?

Thanks

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

No don't rub it at all.

1. Line a 6 X 6 X 4 inch plastic Tupperware box with crumpled aluminum foil.

2. Put in about two or three tablespoons of baking soda.

3. Put pieces on top of baking soda, cover completely with boiling water.

4. Let set till steam is gone, rinse completely.

As you're rinsing, rub with your fingers to make sure there isn't any of the baking soda left on them. If I look close enough on a couple of different pieces, one of the Maples and a couple of ASE's, I can see where the stain was. I'm not sure if that's an artifact or if I need to run them through again but it's way better than the nasty that *was* on there.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Dip works really good, just don't leave it in too long and rinse right away with water. Lightly pat dry with a soft cotton cloth. That will make them nice and shiny.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Good heads up. Always pat, never wipe.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

The baking soda/foil method works, but it's not useful. Tarnish is converted to silver, yes, but it's not restored to a part of the piece: it remains as atoms on the surface. The restored portion will appear white and will tarnish again quickly. This may be polished off, and it's easier than polishing the tarnish off, but it still comes off. That is ok for tableware, but not what you want for coins.

The advice for coins and ingots is still the same: don't clean them. If they are badly soiled to the point of stinking it's ok to soak them in acetone, but even that is not necessary and not recommended. If you want something pretty, buy a flower.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Update: The original patina has already returned after only a week *and* if not left in a cool, dry place, (left out in the room), it will come back worse. As always, YMMV.

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

I didn't get around to try cleaning the silver yet, but now maybe I won't??

Since it's just two coins, I guess I'll just try to unload these as close to spot at some dealer in the city or something? I like my PMs pretty haha.

And what's YMMV?

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Re: Cleaning Silver Bullion
 

Thanks J...i'm usually pretty good with abbreviations.