A silver coin can be a great investment. Some of the rarest and oldest coins can fetch huge sums of money; many times the value of their bullion alone. These coins, however, will change in appearance over time. Principally, most silver coins will acquire a black tarnish over the years. This will be much lessened if the coin is kept in its protective case. Some of these cases are air-tight, and that will further reduce the amount of tarnish that can be expected. Before you get out your cleaning materials to deal with a tarnished silver coin, however, think twice.
Silver tarnish is not the same as rust. It’s merely a layer of black material that is formed when the metal comes into contact with sulfur. Sulfur is found naturally in the air and this is why silver will gradually acquire this tarnish, no matter where it’s stored. Some substances have more sulfur than others. In particular, be certain that you never store a silver bullion coin in a rubber container, as sulfur will leech from the material and tarnish the coin further. The process of tarnishing is called toning, and it’s not entirely undesirable.
Cleaning a silver coin removes layers of metal from the surface. It also severely diminishes the value of the coin. Any evidence of cleaning that is found on an old or new collectable coin will result in that coin being worth its bullion value and not much more. The tarnish that forms on your coin actually protects the surface. Under that tarnish, the original surface of the coin is still intact. You may not be able to see it, but the fact that it’s there increases the value of the coin significantly.
Your silver coin, no matter how old it is, did once shine more than any glass mirror. This is a result of the minting process and, once that process is completed and the coin is removed from the die, tarnishing starts immediately. There is no way to avoid this, just as there is no way to avoid your face and body changing as you age. Fortunately, many collectors find that tarnish actually makes a coin a bit more beautiful. It denotes the age of the coin and, in many cases, it makes some of the features of the coin a bit more visible than they would otherwise be.
