Cleaning Silver Coins

[NateD]

I never clean my silver coins that I dig but I recently found three silver halves in an old swimming pond. One of the halves was my first Walker. The coins are extremely tarnished. I need to do something to give them back their old luster again.

I also was lucky enough to find 4 gold rings in one day. That was my best gold day. Lots of fun!! What a great hobby.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading,

Nate

 

[against the wind]

There are a lot of opinions about cleaning coins.
Cleaning a coin can damage and devalue a coin.
I have cleaned silver coins that I have dug but none of them are Key Dates. I would never clean a Key Date.
I would leave that to the professionals at PCGS.
To check to see if your coin is a key date, refer to The Red Book by Yeoman.
My method of cleaning a silver coin is to gently rub a silver coin between my fingers with a baking soda paste. Good luck and here come the pros and cons.

 

[spoonicuss]

you can use foil hot water and baking soda or vinegar and salt


how ever i think you should check the dates

 

[DetectingGodlikeOnOlympus]

The pond coins can be very terrible. I have found silver dollars and halves on the bottoms of freshwater ponds that are black and stinky and crumbling to the touch. This goes for seateds, morgans, and modern stuff. The only method that ever worked for me was electrolysis, and even then the coins come out goofy to horrible looking. The pond coins I find could be soaked for days in baking soda on foil and it would not make a dent in the degradation and shame of the silver coin. I could tell you stories of heartbreak and sorrow about precious silver coins from nasty old ponds.

The gold is usually fine, so hang in there!

Good luck with cleaning those bad boys!

 

[NateD]

The pond coins can be very terrible. I have found silver dollars and halves on the bottoms of freshwater ponds that are black and stinky and crumbling to the touch. This goes for seateds, morgans, and modern stuff. The only method that ever worked for me was electrolysis, and even then the coins come out goofy to horrible looking. The pond coins I find could be soaked for days in baking soda on foil and it would not make a dent in the degradation and shame of the silver coin. I could tell you stories of heartbreak and sorrow about precious silver coins from nasty old ponds.

The gold is usually fine, so hang in there!

Good luck with cleaning those bad boys!

I boiled the silver halves in baking powder, salt, and tin foil. They look respectable now but still not what I was hoping for. I guess I just need to be happy I was able to recover them. Thanks for the advise. I'm going back to the old swimming hole tomorrow in hopes of finding some more gold and silver.

 

[UnderMiner]

Congrats on your first walker! I never clean my silver coins, too much risk of damaging them plus it takes away that initial 'found look' that most people like. My rule is to only clean non-silver coins that have been been encrusted beyond recognition, cleaning these coins to identify their dates and details is fine, but silver... I don't know...