Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Uncleaned Ancient Coin Discussion Forum
How to Clean Silver (not Silvered) Coins
AdonisRock:
Thanks Robert, that's exactly what I wanted to hear, I'll give the vinegar a go.
E Pinniger:
I've found vinegar (spirit vinegar preferably, but other types would probably work) extremely effective at cleaning greenish copper deposits from the surface of silver coins.
It seems to only dissolve copper compounds, and not silver ones, so it has minimal effect on the toning + patina of silver coins. For the same reason, it's not much good at cleaning very dirty/blackened/crusty silver coins (I use lemon juice for this)
I used this to clean some Victorian and 20th century British silver coins which had been stored in PVC coin album pages for years, and had nasty greenish and yellowish surface deposits; after a few hours soak in vinegar, then a very light scrub with a nylon brush followed with a brief soak in distilled water, they were completely transformed - all the green had disappeared, but as the surface toning of the silver was not affected, they did not have a "stripped" or "over-cleaned" look.
As I said, this probably won't be much good for dirty silver ancients straight out of the ground, but if you have any silver coins which have gone green due to being stored poorly, a soak in vinegar should do the trick.
It should be OK on base silver/billon; many of the British coins I cleaned were 50% fine silver (post-1920). I'd be careful with silvered/fouree coins though.
SRukke:
Can someone supply a decent picture of what horn silver looks like. Never seen it and would like to know it if I run across it.
SRukke:
So on a couple silver republicans I have a small amount of a black very hard substance. Not easily removed. Is this horn silver? What is the best way to remove it on these coins.
Sri_Sahi:
--- Quote from: srukke on June 09, 2009, 07:49:35 am ---So on a couple silver republicans I have a small amount of a black very hard substance. Not easily removed. Is this horn silver? What is the best way to remove it on these coins.
--- End quote ---
Yes, looks like horn silver. I usually assume that whoever cleaned the coin originally knew what she was doing and stopped where she did for a reason. I wouldn't take a chance with a coin that looks OK as is. As I understand it, horn silver is actually relatively soft. The name derives from the fact that it can be cut with a knife, like animal horn.
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