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Specialty Chemistry Forums => Materials and Nanochemistry forum => Topic started by: alnke on September 16, 2019, 04:02:24 AM

Title: Cleaning Old Silver (coins) without damaging it
Post by: alnke on September 16, 2019, 04:02:24 AM
Hello all!
I am not good in chemistry. That's why i am telling you my problem:
I am a coins collector. I read a lot of topics about how to clean silver coins and i found a lot of methods.
First of all, i have some coins silver .835 from around 1880's. They are dirty, have dark color on it.
I want to clean them professional, without damaging them, even if i look at microscope.
Some peoples are telling me to clean with lemon juice, some with baking soda etc. How i can clean them best and keeping them in best condition.

I know you will give me the best idea.
Thank you in advance!!!(http://)
Title: Re: Cleaning Old Silver (coins) without damaging it
Post by: chenbeier on September 16, 2019, 11:18:08 AM
Wrap them in aluminium foil and put them in a pot of water containing baking soda. Boil it for 0,5 h and check. Repeat it again i until if they are clean.
Title: Re: Cleaning Old Silver (coins) without damaging it
Post by: alnke on September 16, 2019, 12:18:37 PM
Wrap them in aluminium foil and put them in a pot of water containing baking soda. Boil it for 0,5 h and check. Repeat it again i until if they are clean.
This methode is not damaging the coin? Do you think is better than soaking in lemon juice?
I will start to test this right now.
Title: Re: Cleaning Old Silver (coins) without damaging it
Post by: Enthalpy on September 16, 2019, 02:21:19 PM
I thought collectors wanted to keep the patina? Heard from collectors that a cleaned coin has little value.
Title: Re: Cleaning Old Silver (coins) without damaging it
Post by: alnke on September 16, 2019, 02:26:50 PM
You have right! We want to keep patina. But i bought some coins wich was found in ground. They are very dirty and as you saw in photo. This is much more than patina. Some of them have material deposits wich hide the details. I want to clean them as safely as possible.
Title: Re: Cleaning Old Silver (coins) without damaging it
Post by: AWK on November 06, 2019, 08:21:51 PM
Old coins are always damaged (more or less).