Hi. Reading your concerns on the forum about milk spots. Is silica gel pouches best way in prevention? I have a very small stack in a safe (not air sealed). The silver I have appears to be milk spot free, and would like to keep it like that if possible.......cheers.
There's nothing you can do to prevent spotting. Either the silver was rinsed effectively or it wasn't during the refining/minting process and either the spots will show up, sooner or later. Nothing you can do will prevent them from showing up if the silver wasn't effectively rinsed. There is however one thing you can do in your purchasing habits to avoid having spotted silver in your stack. Don't buy silver Maples or Philharmonics. They're the #1 and probably #2 world bullion leaders for spotting.
Empty the silica gel into a saucer of warm olive oil. Gently rub the oil into the coin. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar, gently swirl the coin in the solution. Add sea salt and cracked pepper. Swallow coin and allow stomach juices to remove milk spots. Let me show you one I prepared earlier.
I keep silica gel bags with my coins all the time, still some got milk spots (even perth mint - crocodiles for example)
I would pretty much agree with this, and I am from Canada! The birds of prey bullion even have milk spots, but they have known about it for years and dont care as they say, these are "bullion" grade coins not "Numismatic "grade coins. The RCM Numismatic coins dont have milk spots so they know how to produce coins without milk spots but they choose not too with bullion grade coins. I guess because they have to process millions of bullion coins, so cost or whatever . Still sucks though, bullion or not, they shouldn't be developing milk spots , just poor production practices , I think they need a kick in the rear!
Try dishwasher paste if you want to clean 'milk spots': No, they usually don't scratch the coins, but it's best to have the paste slightly diluted in your hands before applying on the coin. Other alternatives could include other dishwashing products.
Wait a second... 'prevent' milk spots or get rid of them? Do these appear even on coins that don't have them? As far as I know, these are factory-related problems and they don't appear if you store them 'the right way'.
Storing them under certain conditions will apparently either exacerbate or retard the milk spot development...don't know if there's a way to prevent if the coins were poorly produced. .
Like Northerncoins said, there is nothing you can do to prevent milk spots. They are caused by traces of rinsing agent chemicals remaining on the equipment and then being 'baked' into the coins during production. They tend to not show immediately, but show up when this baked in chemical on the surface of the coin eventually oxidises. I think the silica will help slow it down though, as the least moist the air is the longer it will take to oxidise. But if they have milk spots they will eventually show. I use silica gel, to help keep the coins dry to hopefully slow the process of tarnishing. I also use some of the coin armour bags.
Personally I don't see the big deal with milk spots on maples and the like. Milk spots are like a trustworthy COA, you know the coin is real because nobody is gonna counterfeit milk spots.
I think the problem is some people or maybe most people want a perfect "coin" no matter if its bullion or Numismatic. I agree that it doesn't mater if your just stacking as you are not going to empty all your tubes of maples to look at them everyday, at least I wouldn't think so lol. I just look through mine and find the the best looking maple and keep it in an airtite and display it, one is all you need for display purposes. The rest is a"stack". The only other problem I see is when you go to sell it if it has milk spots, as some people are buying these and expect them to be perfect at bullion prices. Eh I dont know, it is what it is. But ya Milk spots can be a good CoA, well untill they fake that too. :/
Once the coin is minted there is no way to "prevent" milk spots. As others have said it is some chemical baked into the coin at the mint. Any "fix" that requires you to rub some substance on the coin will screw up the original mint finish. If it didn't, it wouldn't "remove" said milk spots to begin with. If anyone ever came up with a fix that did no damage to the surface of the coin, that person could become very wealthy overnight. One of my local guys sells me spotted maples really cheap and I would love to convert them into great looking coins so I will hold out some hope. Jim
