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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,491 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
For those who don't know; a silver cloth is a very soft cloth impregnated with a chemical that removes silver oxidization. There are various brands with the best IMO being Silvyt, these are what a jeweller rubs his silverwear with to make it look bright again.
Now I know it is best to not clean coins and 99% of my coins are as found but I am wondering about a couple of coins I have.
These are a couple of 1oz proofs, 1975 Turks and Cacaos and not particularly valuable coins. I bought them at silver melt price and they were in rectangular perspex cases. Obviously the previous owner had them out of the cases and handled them leaving fingerprints that have oxidized leaving black smudges mainly in the field area's surrounding the portraits.
I know a rub with a silvyt will remove these marks and bring them back to life and I believe that this kind of cloth is non-abrasive.
Will that be detectable at a later date? Opinions please!
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
If your worried about slabbing or selling at a future date id leave it as is. That said if the coins only value is melt anyway then who cares it wont change the melt value and if you like the look of it better you like the look better
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I dont slab coins and I am most unlikely to sell; I know the coin will look better if given a rub but I want to know if it will be detectable. Proof coins that come in capsules I wouldnt ever take out and touch but others I have no problem with handling by its edges, to me it seems idiotic that the previous owner wanted to put his grubby mits all over this one.
This type of cloth seems to me very mild but if it will be detectable that the coin has been tampered with I will probably leave it looking ugly. Just because I won't sell and I got the item cheap doesn't mean I want to devalue it in anyway.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
561 Posts |
I think that what basebal21 was trying to say is that there is nothing you can do to the coin to make it worth less than melt. These are the types of coins to try this type of stuff on.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
It may be detectable. If the chemical in the cloth removes toning and fingerprints I would wager that it is also removing lustre....no?
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
I think that what basebal21 was trying to say is that there is nothing you can do to the coin to make it worth less than melt. These are the types of coins to try this type of stuff on. Thats exactly what I was saying. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
DavidUK: I would't really bother to clean any silver coin bought at melt price, but you are not going to loose much value with such coins if you do clean them.
The chouce is yours, but no big deal either way.
The product for cleaning that you suggest is designed for solid sterling silver or silver plated tableware.
If you do choose to clean, the results should be visible.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
OK, thanks for your input everyone.
Yes true the coin will never be worth less than it silver value...it could however become worth more than its silver value one day. It is a proof coin so therefore it is meant to look shiny, I figure it must be less desirable with uneven oxidization in it and the cloth will make it shiny again as designed. I also believe that without very strong magnification it would be impossible to tell its been done so on balance I am probably nest to do it.
If it was a very rare and collectable coin with far more than melt price it would be a more difficult decision, but surely the decision should be correct regardles of the value of the coin.
I guess it is so built into me "Do not clean any coin" that its hard to recognise there is an exception for every rule and I am guessing this is the exception.
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Moderator
 Australia
16837 Posts |
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the Selvyt "silver cloth" is a polishing cloth. Which means that as far as I'm aware, the "chemical" impregnated into it is just a fine abrasive powder. It will remove the tarnished prints, but it will also almost certainly destroy the proof surface surrounding it. A silver "dip" would have the same tarnish-removal properties but be less damaging to the proof lustre, though this also will not leave the surface unaffected.
You're welcome to experiment with it if you like, but I'm just warning you to expect the worst.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
OK, well I did it... the oxidization came off quite easily and the coin looks a million times better. However it is detectable that the coin has been touched (orginally the mirrorlike surface would have been completely flat, now it has some grain which is almost impercievable to the naked eye but under maginifcation can be seen) While in its case you would believe it has never been touched.
I don't really know what the lesser of the two evils are -black oxidized finger prints or a cleaned coin. A silver dip may have been better since it would give no mechanical action.
I guess I got the coins for scrap so I lost nothing, one is a Turks and Caicos 10 crown piece 1979 marking the investiture of Charles and the Princess of wales, the other coin is a 1977 jubilee medal which I left as the tarnishing is quite even and far less (the coin just appears to be a little yellow and possibly isn't even silver)
I don't really know whether I made the right choice or not from a value perspective but the coin looks much better and really it was a freebie because I bought it in a lot of items which I paid silver price for but which had an old Maundy set worth a bit more. In the unlikely circumstance that I happen across this situation again I will try the silver dip instead.
I would conclude that while the selvyt is very mild it is abrasive.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
7096 Posts |
DavidUK Don't feel bad about it, I have and I would imagine that a lot of the members would have experimented this way in the past. You may have damaged a coin but you will have gained invaluable knowledge regarding how to spot a coin that has been treated in this manner in future.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
Its OK :) I dont feel bad...I blame the guy for putting his sticky fingers all over it!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Always remember that almost anything that has attacked a coin chemically, has combined with some of the metal of the coin. Removing any such items, removes some of the metal.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I see it as almost a non issue in this case.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
815 Posts |
I cleaned one of my 1967 Lynx quarters with one of those, and while it made the coin look beautiful, I regret it.
I only did it at the time because it was one of two that I had, and I wanted it to look nice. Unfortunately, I have since gotten a great source on them for near or below melt (at 50% value, which means I am occasionally getting an even better deal!), so the fact that one of the original two I had, which I have had for over 22 years has obviously ben cleaned (to my eyes) bothers me.
I would recommend against cleaning, the toning adds character.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I would agree toning is OK, Patina is good. What is not OK for me is a proof coin with fingerprints on it, proof coins should not be touched with naked hands!
I can understand how it would always bother you, and really except for a few coins that were encrusted and I used a toothbrush on (circulated coins dug up from my garden) I would not dream of cleaning the majority.
In this case the coin was not very valuable and it would have always bothered me those marks...now it bothers me slightly that it was cleaned but less than the marks did... so I live and learn...the answer for me is not to buy coins with fingerprints tarnished into them.
Your recommendation is duly noted and I concur, I just made this one an exception.
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,491 |
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Posted 07/06/2012 9:46 pm
