I've always been warned against cleaning my coins, but i received a suggestion for cleaning the tarnish from silver coins......using warm water, aluminum foil, paper towels, and baking soda. Has anyone tried this procedure...is it effective ?
If you are not an expert at conserving coins, you can only damage them. If they are cheap melt value silver, experimentation won't hurt their value.
Effective or prudent? Generally speaking, Michael's advice should be heeded. Far too many "good" coins have forever been ruined by those possessing the best of intentions, but hadn't a clue as to what they were doing. Still, there's nothing wrong with experimenting; just use junk.
Do a search in the archives for coin dips. Dipping is an accepted way these days of getting rid of toning. Just make sure you do it correctly, following the advice in the threads.
You've already been told why the warning is given as standard advice. But I will add something just as an FYI. Fully 80% or more of all older coins, including all of those in TPG slabs, have been cleaned at least once, and some several times. But to do it properly and without harming the coin you have to know what you are doing. Will it work ? Yeah, sometimes. But it is not a method I would recommend as it is prone to harming the coins. There are other methods that work far better and will not harm the coins if done properly.
