Barber dime picture

[Mosley]

Thanks to Reltolbert for the help reducing this picture of the Barber dime I found. The dime is heavily tarnished. Any suggestions for removing the tarnish?

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Everyone has their own opinions on how to clean coins - but I've gotten great results cleaning very heavily stained / corroded silver with Electrolysis.
It will only attack the foreign matter on the object - no damage to the coin at all - as long as you don't leave the coin in the to long.
Electrolysis will only attack the meta object itself - after all of the foreign matter is gone.

Good luck !

 

[Mosley]

Thanks, I have experimented with electrolysis and have a lot to learn. I first tried plain water and left the unit on all night. The water was filthy dirty, but the coin didn't seem to be changed that much. Next I tried salt and lemon juice in the water. I left the unit on for a couple of hours which was evidently too long. I think the AC-DC converter burned up.
There is someone in town that knows how to do it, but i haven't made conections with them yet.

 

[GimmieThe Loot]

I just use some silver cleaner I got from a jeweler. takes seconds to rub off tarnish.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

I would call it oxidized encrustation and I have found many like it with some much worse.I have tried a lot of different methods on encrusted silver and so far electrolysis works the best for me but still leaves a lot to be desired on a better date coin.Works fine for common stuff but kills the value on the better silver.It removes part of detail on near mint condition coins for me and leaves them in a "obviously cleaned" state.

Any type of silver polish I have tried will not touch the gray or black crusty coating .

Some folks may have a perfected method but I am not one of them and I have spent many hours trying methods from the forum as well as a lot of online info. One method touted as the perfect way uses aluminum foil as described below....
Cleaning with Aluminum Foil is another method for cleaning blackened silver coins.
NOTE: Do not use this method on silver coins of high value.
A silver coin is placed into a strip of folded aluminum foil, shiny side inward. The foil and silver coin should be moistened separately with water before placing the coin inside the foil. Once the silver coin is surrounded by the foil, quickly press the foil into the coin's relief.

CAUTION: Do not keep fingers on the aluminum foil for too long. The chemical reaction between the foil, water and oxidized silver may create high temperatures and possibly burn your skin.

The chemical reaction will last for several minutes and may produce an odor similar to rotten eggs. After the coin cools down, peel the aluminum foil away from the coin. Black oxide can be easily rinsed off and the coin dried with a soft cloth. Coins with extensive oxidation may not respond completely to this method.

 

[reltolbert]

Mosley,

Photo below on left shows a half-dollar, with a bullet in it, before electrolysis and the
photo on the right shows the coin after about 8 minutes of electrolysis.

 

[GimmieThe Loot]

Here is a before and after shot of three silvers I got last weekend. I rubbed some silver polish on them, let it dry, and then rubbed it off. Took 2 minutes.

 

[Vikesboy]

Here is a before and after shot of three silvers I got last weekend. I rubbed some silver polish on them, let it dry, and then rubbed it off. Took 2 minutes.

Your coins are a lot cleaner than his to start, personally I have found electrolysis to be the best way to clean the "crud" off silver. Sometimes they are still a bit tarnished, thats when you use tarnish remover to really bring out the shine.
Somebody posted this link not to long ago, and I found it to be a very simple, and solid write-up on how to perform electrolysis. The only thing I'd add is the importance of changing the water often, especially if its a valuable coin.
Hydrolysis -http://www.dirtyoldcoins.com/restore/electrolysis.html

 

[GimmieThe Loot]

I guess I have not found a cruddy silver yet... just some tarnish.

 

[Mosley]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The dime was very heavily tarnished. I used "TARN-X" from Walmart to clean it up.

 

[moose]

Very nice Mosley, What year is it?

Moose

 

[Mosley]

The date is 1896.

 

[nge]

A very important step was forgotten with the aluminum foil trick. You must boil the water then put some washing soda into the mixture, NOT baking soda!