How to clean silver coins - The Bullion Channel

>>The Bullion Channel<<
in this video i'm going to show you how to clean up a silver coin.
I should mention that a lot of serious coin collectors say you should never
clean a coin, because it could lower its value.
But i'm not a coin collector, I'm a bullion collector, and silver is worth
the same amount of money whether it's clean or dirty.
I personally prefer my coins to be clean.
For the longest time I wouldn't even buy junk silver coins because
figured, if I'm going to put my money into silver coins,
i want them to look like they're silver.
As you can see, this one is particularly nasty.
For a coin this bad, here's what you're going to need.
a small bowl to leave the coin in.
it should not be made of metal
some vinegar
some table salt
some baking soda
and some kind of brush
It should have plastic bristles, even a toothbrush would work.
If the bristles are metal, it will scratch the heck out of the coin.
okay a coin this nasty is going to require two different procedures.
We'll start by pouring some vinegar into a bowl.
Then mix some salt into it. This will create a mild hydrochloric acid.
sometimes it helps to throw it in the microwave and heat it to boiling.
Next, drop in the coin.
one this bad will need to soak overnight.
Okay it's been about ten hours, Now it's time to remove the coin.
You'll probably notice some of the tarnish will actually rub off on your
fingers at this point.
The next thing to do is use the brush and lightly scrub the coin front and back.
It's also helpful to scrub the edge of the coin all the way around.
You should be able to see a significant improvement already at this stage.
But now it's time to move on to the next step.
Wet the coin,
then pour some baking soda on it.
Start gently scrubbing it with a brush, like this.
It might take awhil,e possibly five minutes.
Make sure the Baking soda is completely wet, don't scrub it on their dry.
Be sure to get the edge of the coin too.
And here's the finished product.
Let's do a "before and after."
Here was the coin before cleaning.
Now after.
Now you can probably tell that the coin look scratched, but this is not from
cleaning. These are scratches from circulation that were already there, we
just couldn't see them through all of the tarnish.
If you don't believe me, check out this example, which i also clean using the
same method.
Yeah, I've never really understood the coin collectors who like their coins
to be tarnished,
or "toned."
Its kind of like saying I'm going to take my car to a car show, but instead of cleaning it all up
to look like it's new, or possibly repainting if it's all rusted
I'm just going to bring it up there all rusted, in fact its like saying I want to have the car covered
in rust
in order to show how old it is.
But if I go to a car show to look at old cars, I want the cars to look as much as possible like they did when they were new.
And that's how I am with my bullion coins well.
i would say you know if you have a coin that might have some numismatic
value to it,
uh... that is. value that is beyond its weight in silver or gold or whatever it is.

I would at least check and find out what it is worth
if you're planning on selling it
uh... before you clean it.
All of the stuff I buy is pretty much worth only its weight in silver, but there are
exceptions that, you could run into a coin that might be worth more to somebody else,
In which case, if they want to clean it, let them clean it.
for the most part
uh... i'm pretty much pro-cleaning coins.