Easy way to clean silver with basic household goods

A

Ant80

Member
Hi everyone,

As we all know, our precious silver tends to oxidize (tarnish) a bit over time, making it look dirty - and most people use special cleaning products from retailers. But recently I found a few videos on youtube that show a simple and quite effective way to clean silver coins and bars with only some basic household goods. In my experience it's a bit slow, but it definitely works. Here's how it works:
(By the way, if anyone else in this forum has already posted this method here, then just ignore my post. Same thing if you already know this method ;))

What you need:
- Glass (or other) bowl or cup (depending on the size / amount of silver you want to clean)
- Aluminium foil
- Any kind of salt, or baking soda
- Hot (close to boiling) water

Here's how to do it:
1. Fill the glass bowl or cup with the hot water, add plenty of salt, and stir it around until the salt dissolves in the water
2. Add the aluminium foil into the bowl or cup (you can also put it in before adding the water and salt). You can add as much tin foil as you want.
3. Put your silver coins or bars into the bowl or cup, and let it stand for a while. Make sure the silver is in contact with the aluminium foil.

The aluminium reacts with the salt in the water, which cleans the silver. So instead of the tarnish having to be wiped off, it actually reverts back to clean silver :).
Also, here's a video that shows it very well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsKLcc13WBo
 
It's alot work, and if you aren't quick enough, the water cools, the chemical process stops, and the inverted reaction (tarnishing) again occurs at a fast pace. I did this a dozen times for over 500 coins, 50 at a time, and it happened too many times that the sulphur reattached, to make coins even uglier than they were before, inflicting repeated attempts.
Now I use a silver dip, much more costly than common household stuff, but if you add in time and work, its alot cheaper.
 
Ant80 said:
Hi everyone,

As we all know, our precious silver tends to oxidize (tarnish) a bit over time, making it look dirty - and most people use special cleaning products from retailers. But recently I found a few videos on youtube that show a simple and quite effective way to clean silver coins and bars with only some basic household goods. In my experience it's a bit slow, but it definitely works. Here's how it works:
(By the way, if anyone else in this forum has already posted this method here, then just ignore my post. Same thing if you already know this method ;))

What you need:
- Glass (or other) bowl or cup (depending on the size / amount of silver you want to clean)
- Aluminium foil
- Any kind of salt, or baking soda
- Hot (close to boiling) water

Here's how to do it:
1. Fill the glass bowl or cup with the hot water, add plenty of salt, and stir it around until the salt dissolves in the water
2. Add the aluminium foil into the bowl or cup (you can also put it in before adding the water and salt). You can add as much tin foil as you want.
3. Put your silver coins or bars into the bowl or cup, and let it stand for a while. Make sure the silver is in contact with the aluminium foil.

The aluminium reacts with the salt in the water, which cleans the silver. So instead of the tarnish having to be wiped off, it actually reverts back to clean silver :).
Also, here's a video that shows it very well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsKLcc13WBo
Click to expand...
NOT salt OR baking soda.
YOU NEED BAKING soda to react with the foil.
If you have not got the baking soda then it will NOT work.
You can take or leave the salt , but the baking soda is ESSENTIAL>
 
Please please please do not clean old coins. You will destroy their value if collectable.

I'm filled with horror at the idea of my much liked napoleon one silver 5 francs being chemically cleaned.

Please don't do it..........

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc[/youtube]

You can immediately halve or reduce to at best spot the value of old silver coins if you clean them. Stop listen think and do google 'don't clean old coins'.
 
People can clean their coins if they want to, it's their choice. But I know where you are coming from, most coin collectors feel that they do not 'own' the collection, they are merely 'holding on to it' for the next generation of numismatists. Which does have a bit of a delusion of grandeur to it. The idea being the people you pass it on to don't clean them either, though you have no control or rights over how the buyers treat the coins.

Also the term 'cleaning' is universally applied, soap and water is cleaning, scouring with wire wool is also cleaning, obviously they have varying effects on the coin. 'Dirty' is also universally applied and could refer to actual dirt, grease, finger prints, discolouration, surface stains or any number of other detracting marks.

The general rule is never clean a coin because you will destroy the numismatic value. This is good advice for people new to the hobby.

If you know what you are doing then go ahead and clean, just be sure to call it 'restoring' and not 'cleaning'.

First you check the coin out on Numista http://en.numista.com/catalogue/index.php?r=&x=17&y=11

Your Napolean 1 five francs http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces2108.html or http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces18347.html could be one of the low mintages so if it wasn't filthy dirty you might decide to leave it.

If your coin was a 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces943.html with a mintage of 277,254,766 then unless it is in uncirculated condition, it is probably not going to have a massive numismatic value. What might be uncommon in Australia may be very common on the global market.

Also a coin which has spent years in circulation will have wear and scratches on it already, a wash in cloudy ammonia is going to eat straight through the grease, running under a tap is going to dislodge the larger lumps of dirt and a quick rub with a soapy thumb to remove the last few traces and isn't going to add any noticeable extra scratches. There will not be a change to the patina but if you are concerned about cloudy ammonia (which you should be, it dissolves some metal after a short time) you can use acetone, friendlier to metals, not so friendly to skin.

Then check on ebay, many common coins are selling for their melt value, or 1-2% more. They have no numismatic value to speak of. So you can have a dirty coin in your collection or a cleaned one, both worth the same amount.

Many numismatists won't touch a 'cleaned' coin, others will try to buy it at a lesser price, if the coin has been cleaned sympathetically then most won't know unless you tell them. Of course many coins have been cleaned in the past before they even get to your collection. If I have just washed dirt off under a tap I won't even mention it has been cleaned, if I do something aggressive enough to remove the patina I will mention it.

Once you have removed the dirt and know the value of the coin then you can decide if you want it 'old' looking or shiny and new.

It is this bit that really upsets the numismatists. Most of them see an old coin that is shiny and think it has been scoured with wire wool or dipped in cleaner. Dipping in cleaner removes the surface of the coin, not sure how much of the surface, how many atoms or microns deep but apparently it makes all the difference to a collector. How they can tell the difference between the surface removal caused by a quick dip, and the surface removal caused by an extra couple of days in a pocket full of change I don't know.

I have also heard that removing the patina can reveal additional detracting marks and scratches hidden by the patina, which can lower the value of the coin, I would rather know about these things before I sold them to someone.

Anyone who knows how to remove the patina will have no problems replacing it if needed.

So a blanket ban on 'cleaning' coins is not useful because many dealers will also clean coins to make them more saleable, and new collectors need to be more aware of this practice anyway. Cleaning will not make a crap common coin more or less valuable, just cleaner, the details more visible and give the coin more eye appeal.

Always best to know how the process works first and practice on cheap coins.
 
Wow that's a lot of information on the subject, and thanks for the heads ups on (not) cleaning numismatic coins... I think it's definitely a delicate issue, and I agree that if old numismatic coins are cleaned, then it should be done very carefully and sparingly.

As for cleaning with household goods, I've been doing various tests myself and haven't actually tried baking soda yet, only salt - and that only works to a small degree. I also own special silver cleaning liquid, so I use that too.

Thanks for all the info! :)
 
Nice coins, I also own some Australian ones, but more from the UK... some even going back to George III :)
I know this is a bit off topic, but how would you clean bronze coins, if you do?
 
Yes that's probably true. I remember trying to clean a bronze coin once a long time ago (with vinegar! Yea stupid ikr, but kids try all sorts of stuff :D), and it turned out a total disaster and it rendered the coin worthless.
 
Miloman said:
Ant80 said:
Actually, in this video, no baking soda is used and it seems to work quite well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQvQ29fqZsk

However when I tested it that way myself, it was less effective than in that video. Just something to think about.
Click to expand...

It's a better method though...

salt + very warm water + aluminum foil = silver dip
Click to expand...


Yes, that's the video where I originally got the idea from... but like said, I've only had limited success with it (I've generally had to wipe the coins after putting them in to get all the tarnish off... so it's definitely true not to leave them in when the water cools).
 
Ant80 said:
Miloman said:
Ant80 said:
Actually, in this video, no baking soda is used and it seems to work quite well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQvQ29fqZsk

However when I tested it that way myself, it was less effective than in that video. Just something to think about.
Click to expand...

It's a better method though...

salt + very warm water + aluminum foil = silver dip
Click to expand...


Yes, that's the video where I originally got the idea from... but like said, I've only had limited success with it (I've generally had to wipe the coins after putting them in to get all the tarnish off... so it's definitely true not to leave them in when the water cools).
Click to expand...

Works well on 99.9% silver, works ok on 92.5%, I have never had any success on 50% silver so I don't bother. You can run a charge across the coin using an AA battery with one end wired to the foil and one end touching the coin, work in a flash but reverses immediately when the current stops flowing.

I always use the bi-carb and it does give off a sulphery smell, never really used the method to do more than experiment.
 
Clawhammer said:
I need something that can really get into the corners. 180grit sandpaper.
Click to expand...

I have a polisher you can use.

It is made for polishing bullet casings, you pop the brass case in with a ton of steel beads and the whole thing vibrates like mad, after a couple of hours you dig out the casings and apparently they are bright and shiny.

I thought it might work with coins (junk 50% coins).

I soaked them in cloudy ammonia until the solution went blue, i.e. too long.

Then I drained the coins and threw them in the tub with the steel beads.

Then I added the sodium bi-carbonate to the top to give them a bit of a sparkle.

I came back a day later.

The remaining blue cloudy ammonia had dissolved the sodium bicarb and had turned into a blue concrete with steel beads and coins as the aggregate.

Had to soak the whole lot, with many changes of water, separate out the coins from the beads, dry the coins, dry the beads and then clean the coins the old fashioned way.

Not the best use of a weekend.
 
I've cleaned a few coins. Only old coins that have no real collector value to begin with to make them look nicer for my collection. I have done the baking soda thing, it works out pretty well. What I found works better if you are only doing a few coins is too make a paste out of the baking soda and massage the coin between your fingers. Gets in super shiny again and removes all the gunk. Absultely dont recommend for any coins with premiums attached because it will put micro scratches on the coins.

Also one day I dropped a bunch of circulated U.S state non silver state quarters into boiling water in a stainless steel pot to try to clean them...They ALL turned yellow, almost look like I tried to gold plate them. I did the baking soda and alumium thing and it reversed the reaction and pulled the yellow off them almost instantly!
 
Nabullion Dynamite said:
I've cleaned a few coins. Only old coins that have no real collector value to begin with to make them look nicer for my collection. I have done the baking soda thing, it works out pretty well. What I found works better if you are only doing a few coins is too make a paste out of the baking soda and massage the coin between your fingers. Gets in super shiny again and removes all the gunk. Absultely dont recommend for any coins with premiums attached because it will put micro scratches on the coins.

Also one day I dropped a bunch of circulated U.S state non silver state quarters into boiling water in a stainless steel pot to try to clean them...They ALL turned yellow, almost look like I tried to gold plate them. I did the baking soda and alumium thing and it reversed the reaction and pulled the yellow off them almost instantly!
Click to expand...

Interesting.
 
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