Hi Everyone, I'm looking for a recommendation on maintenance of bullion silver. I have a couple of 5 dollar uncirculated maple leafs that I purchased 3 or 4 years ago. Recently I noticed barely visible white stains on the coins. It's kind of a white film that's visible in bright light. Is there something wrong with the coins or is it a natural occurrence? How can I remove it and prevent it from appearing again?
It's called milk spotting and it's a very normal occurrence with maples and other RCM bullion coins. I wouldn't bother trying to remove them, there are many methods that are discussed and few actually work without damage to the coin.
All it really is is just silver reacting with oxygen. Here is the chemical reaction that takes place over several years. Ag(s) + O2(g) --> Ag2O(s) Silver will only react with oxygen to form oxides in a solid state. However it may form silver nitrate in liquid form. The oxidation on silver is inevitable and it does not decrease the value of the coin's silver content as none of the silver is lost in the reaction. The only thing that will delay the process is those airtites but even then the silver is still exposed to oxygen but not as much. So it takes 20+ years for the silver to oxidize enough for you to really notice. I've had a 2012 ase since well 2012. if you have ever seen my website you should look at the coin it has some interested white toning from oxidation as I had kept it raw all this time.
It's not a big deal at all really. Silver oxidizes and sometimes it looks great and sometimes not so much. If you really don't like the coins anymore just put them away. You can always sell them or trade them whenever you want. Of course with silver being so low in price and trying to edge down even lower, I wouldn't sell them anytime soon.
Thanks for the crash course in silver care! I won't try to remove the oxidation and just leave these coins as they are. They look great, especially the wildlife series. I'm not selling them anytime soon.
I've only seen milk spots on 20 pk ASE and 25 pk CML, sometimes on slabbed, I've never seen any on any mint wrap, or proof cointain and wrap.
