How to clean or should I say "preserve" Silver coins ?

[Brucem]

I saw Blue ribbon is best for copper, but it gone now, so still looking, but how about for Silver coins?
I've heard something about aluminum foil and I think baking soda and heated water, also using something called Twinkle or something like that.
But what the best way to clean silver without losing that nice patina ?

 

[hoser]

Most of the time I only clean my silver with warm soapy water and a toothbrush or soft cotton. Quite a while ago I bought a water Pic at a garage sale. I wouldn't ever use it in my own mouth, but it works great as a small pressure washer for blowing out crusted dirt on old coins or jewelry.

 

[HungryGhost]

For real oldies with nice patina warm soapy water and a soft brush. The more common stuff I’ll clean with a baking soda and water paste, comes out super shiny.

 

[diggin4clad]

Most silver coins are easy to clean with some toothpaste and warm water with gentle scrubbing. NEVER use silver polish on them because it will give them a very artificial look.

 

[Jamflicker]

Tips for Cleaning Older Coins and Tokens Found Metal Detecting

See recommended methods for cleaning coins and tokens found metal detecting. Best solutions to clean old silver, copper, brass, nickel, aluminum coins, and tokens.

focusspeed.com

 

[BobOso]

you guys sometimes have no ideas on cleaning methods. out here it is almost impossible to clean coins. Some of the silver I find will have a 1/4 inch of black crud on both sides . Here are 2 recent finds a token and a silver coin, sorry for the angle, but it is covere3d in about 3/8 of colechie, and who knows what is on top of that.The silver is very poor condition of course and not worth saving, but and idea of what they look like when I take then out of the ground

 

[Kansashunter]

I never use a brush on the silver coins, it really scratches them.

 

[metaladdict]

That's an aluminum coin.

 

[BobOso]

The token is aluminum, the other is silver

 

[scoundrel]

you guys sometimes have no ideas on cleaning methods. out here it is almost impossible to clean coins. Some of the silver I find will have a 1/4 inch of black crud on both sides . Here are 2 recent finds a token and a silver coin, sorry for the angle, but it is covere3d in about 3/8 of colechie, and who knows what is on top of that.The silver is very poor condition of course and not worth saving, but and idea of what they look like when I take then out of the ground
View attachment 597156View attachment 597157

Have you tried electrolysis? It works very well.

 

[BobOso]

Have you tried electrolysis? It works very well.

I tried it on the aluminum one, did not help much, even had it going for several hours. The other coin is too far gone to even bother with, it is an example of how many of the coins are down here after 100 years.