Lemon juice on silver coins

[jdeiana]

From my reading - this seems to be a safe way to clean silver. soak your coin in 1 part water distilled 1 part lemon juice for 12-24 hours. soak toothpick in lemon juice for same amount of time - clean coin with toothpick after lemon juice bath, wipe with soft cloth - then let sit in distilled water for another 24hours to get acids off of coin - anyone try this?

 

[captn_se]

Seems like too much work to clean common silver coins. I use either a baking soda paste(baking soda and a little water) and gently rub your coin using just your index fingers and thumbs. For tougher oxidation, I use an electrolysis unit. I zap the coin for no more than 20-30 seconds(time is dependent on the amount of current of your unit and how badly oxidized your coin is). After that, I gently clean with the baking soda method I described above. In 10-15 minutes, all the silver I found for the day is cleaned. Then it's time to make a post.

For Key date and semi-key date coins, I just run some water on them to take off the loose dirt.

For copper coinage, I like to heat up a little bit of hydrogen peroxide til it gets to the boiling point, and drop your copper in and watch it fiz.....does a decent job on heavily caked on dirt/grime without ruining the patina of the copper.

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[CT Todd]

I agree too much.Common silver coins I use Never Dull (comes in a blue can) at the hardware store.For anything old or key date I do nothing at all.

 

[jdeiana]

you just soak the coin in water and lemon juice. not all that labor intensive - i am trying it on my 1858 half. i will post before and after pic this week. thanks for the posts.

 

[hershey1]

If you can read 1858 let someone that knows about coins look at it before doing anything to it. That's an old half dollar. JMHO. HH

 

[JimGilmore]

what do you do to coins that are near flat and encrusted /totally redish ??

 

[reltolbert]

For all common coins I use a rock tumbler using small fish aquarium colored rock. Fill the tumbler about 1/3 full
with the rock add a small cup of common coins with 2 tablespoons of dish soap. Add water about a 1/2 inch above the rock/
coin levels and tumble for 12-18 hours.
This cleans a lot of coins at one time and does a good job.

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

For silver coins, I just cut a slit for each coin, into a lemon. Place the coin in there overnight, pull it out in the morning, rubbing it with my fingers while under running water. I use a tooth bush at this point if the stain is persistent. Does a beautiful job.
Mick Evans.

 

[GimmieThe Loot]

I've just used my girlfriend's silver jewelry polish. Takes about 1 minute per coin to rub off the tarnish. She is a chemist and says its safe for old coins. For indians i do the boiling hydrogen peroxide bath and it usually cleans them up nice, although darkens them a bit.