Improving Silver Commemorative Pieces

[alfnail]

I have a few 0.925 silver commemorative pieces, one or two of which have good detail but marks like the one on this picture. Has anyone any experience as to whether it is worth trying to

improve such pieces please? i.e. removing marks, without degrading the detail.

   

[Paddy]

I have tried it occasionally, but can't say the results have ever been rewarding.

Silver dip will get rid of the marks, but also all the lustre, leaving the coin flat and lifeless.

Using a cotton bud dipped in silver dip or Ammonia or lemon juice allows a more selective cleaning of just the spots, but getting to a result that doesn't still look blotchy takes a lot of effort and is rarely successful.

I have not tried the aluminium foil and bicarb of soda technique on a modern coin - maybe someone else has?

If you have examples that are not too scarce or valuable, experiment and let us know your results. After all, the coin will still be worth its melt value, and that is all most buyers would give you anyway for the common coins.

 

[JLS]

On 11/22/2020 at 8:37 AM, alfnail said:

I have a few 0.925 silver commemorative pieces, one or two of which have good detail but marks like the one on this picture. Has anyone any experience as to whether it is worth trying to

improve such pieces please? i.e. removing marks, without degrading the detail.

   

Use silver dip, just wash the coin immediately afterwards in cold water; you need to dip for less than a second to achieve desirable results; if you leave the coin in the dip for any appreciable amount of time it becomes very obvious that it has been dipped with the flat surfaces Paddy mentions. 

Do it outside and wear gloves though because the chemicals (thiourea) are carcinogenic. 

[Peckris 2]

9 hours ago, JLS said:

Use silver dip, just wash the coin immediately afterwards in cold water; you need to dip for less than a second to achieve desirable results; if you leave the coin in the dip for any appreciable amount of time it becomes very obvious that it has been dipped with the flat surfaces Paddy mentions. 

Do it outside and wear gloves though because the chemicals (thiourea) are carcinogenic. 

I've dipped for 5 seconds with only a slight loss of lustre.

[alfnail]

Thanks all, sounds dangerously new and exciting! Should I use de-ionized water or just ordinary tap?