Why not use silver polish?

S

SteveS

Member
I will be gutted when my Queen's Beasts two ouncers develop milk spots, as they seem destined to do by all accounts. I'd also like some Maple Leafs, which are also supposed to spot.

I'm not so worried about my PM Kangas, because they're just a basic form of sellable silver to me.

I was wondering if anybody uses off-the-shelf silver polish (the sort of thing used for sterling silver), and whether or not the oils in these polishes could ward of the dreaded spots. I can't see doing so would visibly affect silver coins in any negative way - or would it?
 
Once you get spots, they are there. And once you touch and rub the surface of the coin, it is forever ruined. You can't even grade it, you'll get a grade of 'cleaned.' Leave it alone. Or flip it and get another one.
 
Big no no from the anal eye glass mobl!

But if they are bullion coins or silver bars then vinegar and bicarb followed by a jewellers cloth are a lot cheaper. than silver cleaner.

HP sauce on cotton wool with a light rub do a fantastic job but watch out for that bullion eyeglass crowd. lol
 
barsenault said:
Once you get spots, they are there. And once you touch and rub the surface of the coin, it is forever ruined. You can't even grade it, you'll get a grade of 'cleaned.' Leave it alone. Or flip it and get another one.
Click to expand...

Why? I would imagine silver polish (I was also thinking of trying a very mild German car polish I use called Mer) would leave no visible marks.

I'm not trying to remove spots but prevent them.

I should add that I'm not buying numismatics, just mass produced semis or cheaper. I just think even my cheap(ish) coins would keep their value better if I can keep them milkspot-free.
 
Because silver is such a soft metal it doesn't matter how light handed you are you'll leave a mark that the eyeglass mob (damn I love that phrase) will definitely find.
Don't touch it if it has the slightest numismatic value.

You could try polishing a bullion coin just to demonstrate this if you've any doubts about it.
You can't really prevent milk spots. Some coins are more susceptible than others though.
 
I've wondered before if you had a coin so badly spotted it was never going to be worth more than melt value, could you not risk some sort of polishing to at least make it look better as long as you understood it was still never going to be worth more than melt?
 
Maybe wipe them over with light oil before storing? This would only (possibly) work if oxygen was involved in the spotting process.
 
Yeah, polish bullion to your hearts content if you want. Like you said, it's only worth spot plus a small premium.
There's heaps of threads on here about polishing round 50's, pre decimals, etc. It all depends on your opinion on tarnish and toning.

Oil could actually make it worse if it were hydrocarbon based with sulphur impurities. Try it on some bullion but as it takes ages for silver to tone you'll be waiting for your experiment to bear fruit (or not as it were, lol).
 
There's no good reason to want to polish a bullion coin. If, on the other hand, you have a coin that has real collector or numismatic value and it has some problems, then leave it to professionals to restore.

Just an example: I purchased a 1987 5 oz. proof silver commemorative coin a couple of years ago for a good price but it had some problem areas. I wanted to get it professionally graded but I knew it wouldn't grade well with those problem areas. So I sent it to be professionally restored before getting it graded. It graded, to my delight, a 69. So the professional restoration was worth it to me for this particular collectable coin.



.
 
Just leave them as is and save yourself the time and energy, if they are bullion just sell for spot, milk may / will eventually lead to a nicer kind of toning in the long run so is in overstated terror in so many's eyes.

Altering a coin is not considered a good thing to do, a coin gathers a patina from age, if you remove the patina the coin has been tampered with and does lose a lot of its numismatic appeal, a number of 999 coins will scratch very easily so will be destroyed from hairline scratch damage to the coins surfaces.

If you want to have fun and cleaning a coin is fun to you, then by all means go ahead and enjoy yourself, there is just little benefit for anyone in you doing so imo.
 
Nothing removes milkspots once they are on the coin, that is, without damaging the surface of the coin. Coins that develop milkspots are destined to spot once they leave the mint. Even if you leave them in the tube untouched if they are gonna spot they will spot within months to a couple of years. I have seen Maples untouched in the tube turn out spotted a couple of years after purchase.

Kind of like a person born with a genetic defect. It is only a matter of time before it becomes obvious.

PS If you ever decide to "clean" a coin due to tarnish, don't use a "polish" use a blue color coin dip, etc. Polish destroys the coin, even a newbie can spot it. I use a mixture of "dipping agents" depending on the coin that I discovered over time and can "clean" a slight to mildly toned coin and you would never know (that is, if the toning/tarnish is not too much to begin with-in that case I leave it alone). I have had some coins graded after my "cleaning" process so I know it is good.

PSS NEVER CLEAN NUMI OR SEMI NUMI COINS...

Just my opinion.

Jim
 
1for1 said:
milk may / will eventually lead to a nicer kind of toning.
Click to expand...


Can you show us an example of such a claim?

If true, what you say, then wouldn't it be potentially way more profitable for silver bullion coin owners to try to exacerbate milking instead of stretching the limits of human ingenuity trying to prevent it?





.
 
Months ago someone who had posted in another forum about their success with polishing spotted britannias (can't remember if they 2015 or 2016 but I think 2016s). He was of course met with the usual disdain, but the "after" p[hotos looked really good and very compelling to me I have never seen more milkspot prone coins than the UK bullion, even moreso than RCM bullion. The potting seems to happen faster and progresses over more of the coins. Nobody wants to pay a premium for already spotted coins. I think silver polished bullion is going to become more of an accepted practice over time, whether or not the practice is disclosed to the potential buyer!
 
I'm sure that there are people who do rub, polish, or mechanically clean their bullion coins and don't disclose that they did when they go to sell them. While these people who do that are dishonest people and part of the problem, ultimately it's buyer beware.

Don't pay a collector premium for bullion coins unless you are very familiar with the type of coin you are buying or unless you buy it from a reputable seller / dealer.



.
 
Anything done to the surface of a coin that "removes" toning, milk spots, etc, will leave some sort of "evidence" on the coin's surface. I am referring to dip, polish, pencil erasers, jeweler's cloth, etc. Soaking coins in a mild soap, etc, might be an exception to this if the coin is not rubbed.

The evidence on the coin might be hard to detect without a microscope at best (proper dipping), to easily seen with the naked eye even by a blind person (using "polish" or other abrasives on a coin's surface). A proper dip won't be visible to the naked eye or even a loop. Using ANY abrasive on a coin like a jeweler's cloth, pencil eraser, polish (rubbing it on the coin) etc, will leave damage. I tried all the remedies I found online for milk spots on some Canadian wildlife coins I got close to melt because they were spotted bad. None were acceptable. Ones that made the milk spot "disappear" left obviously visible different types of "spots" instead.

If you use one of the online remedies for milk spots you might fix the spots enough to pawn the coin off on some unsuspecting buyer but someone with experience in coins will see it immediately if they check the coins properly.

I just look at the spotted coins as bullion and put them with my generic bullion stuff not the cool stuff. It is sad to see an otherwise awesome coin be relegated to crap status simply because the mints can't remove whatever is causing the spots.

Just my opinion.

Jim
 
From the Perth mint web site,take note the use of the word "polished"in both proof and bullion sections :)


Proof Coins
The very highest quality coins produced by The Perth Mint feature a proof finish. The coin table (background) is highly-polished and mirror-like.

Traditionally, design elements are delicately frosted. However, as an alternative, we colour some or all design elements on many of our proof quality releases.

Because of the time and skill involved in creating proof quality coins, this finish is reserved for our most limited, highly-prized numismatic (collectable) issues.

Bullion Coins
Bullion coins are made for the purpose of investing in precious metals. They are mass produced to keep the price as close to 'spot' as possible. As a result, the finish on many bullion coins issued worldwide is uniform with no distinctively polished or frosted areas.

The Perth Mint takes a different approach. Our bullion coins feature a frosted table and a shiny design (the opposite way round to proof issues). The quality of each strike means that our bullion coins are sometimes referred to as "reverse proofs". Indeed, we would claim they have the best quality bullion finish in the world.

(Visit The Perth Mint Bullion website.)
 
Jim4silver
Any photos after dipped, polished, rub???
It is good if you can show us after what you did on those coins you mentioned.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top