Crusty Silver Coins

[sparkster]

I'm writing to see if anyone has a good way to cleans crusty, corroded silver coins and wheat back penny's. I have been finding many silvers and wheats in the desert south west.
I believe The ground is so mineralized and alkalized that it turns coins almost black when you dig them. Tumbling the coins that are crusty does not really help much. I have tried
Tar-nex that does nothing. I have also used vinegar and salt, but that etches the coins severely. Anyone have the ultimate answer for the problem? These are not collect able coins, I just want them to look nice for display. Thank you in advance for your help

Sparkster
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Minelab CTX 3030, AT Pro, MXT, Excalibur ll 1000, DFX, Gold Bug ll, box full of coils, lesche, Pro Pointer. "AINT THIS HOBBY GREAT"

 

[BillF]

Take some baking soda, get it moist and rub the silver coins. Should make them nice and shiney. Not a whole heck of a lot you can do with wheats. Worcestershire sauce or lemon juice or copper polish may do something for you but they always come out with a weird color. Some guys use Ketchup also. Try some on a non key date wheat, see what it does.

 

[sparkster]

Thanks for your response BillF. I will try each of those.

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

Do a search for electrolysis here on the forum. Works magic without damaging the details that are left.

 

[joe dirt_1]

You might try giving them a soak in olive oil. It may take a few days to loosen the crud up, but it does pretty well on some of the coins I have tried it on, especially indian head pennies.
The only other method would be put them in a rock tumble with some aquarium gravel and see if that will shine them up. Keep the silver and copper coins separate when you tumble them....Good luck.

Roger

 

[jimmyk]

For heavily corroded silver try lemon juice and salt. Might take several days, but will slowly dissolve the crust.

jimmyk in Missouri