Cleaning silver from a smell

[capitalfun8]

Hi

My grandma gave me a ton of old coins that were hidden in the basement in a musty desk. when I looked thru them and sorted them they had a musty smell almost moldy. Is there a solution I could use that would remove the smell that wouldnt devalue the coins. I was to hesitant to even soak them in warm water and dish soap. I have read and been told that cleaning them can depreciate the value of the coins. If anyone has any answers please post and help me with my dilemma. (and I looked thru most of them no key dates as far as I can tell).

 

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[red89]

I had the same problem, I asked a coin dealer this very question and he said he gets a lot of collections in that smell musty. He told me to soak them in very hot water and stir the water around gently (I wouldn't do the whole batch of coins at once because they might move around and scratch each other) then pat the coins dry. After you dry the coins find a wooden box (cigar boxes are what I use) and set the coins on one side of the box, but dont stack them on top of each other, and put a little baking soda on the other side of the box, not touching the coins. The hot water will kill off some of the musty smell and the wood box and baking soda should take away the rest of the smell. Repeat if needed (using new baking soda).