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This eBay listing made me laugh, this guy thinks he has the only one like that.
Rarest in the world apparently lol 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rarest-in-the-world-1-off-Rejects-5-Coins-Silver-Royal-Mint-2oz-999-9-Pure-/143973109698?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
 
 
 
 
 

Welcome to the club! Now you know how to hack the universe:
Buy one, price drops, buy the rest! Always works* 
*not financial advice

I am using soaking methods as well, just soaking, not rubbing. Soapy water followed by hot water followed by alcohol. It removes most smudges (many of those old trade coins are not patinaed, just dirty). That is for gold mainly, I don't believe in patina on gold.
For tarnished silver I have been using aluminum-soda-hot water on bullion. It works very well, the only thing that can happen - and has happened with me - is it can lead to some more matte areas, like a light whiff.

Thanks Pete, that is a nice list in order of riskiness! Thanks Chorlton, in general, I clean nothing (and I'm not just talking silver coins here 😚). I'm a fan of 'nice' patina, and hate 'up-cycling' in general. My question is purely about whether I can occasionally plug gaps in colllections on the cheap by buying discounted coins that have been badly cared for and look a bit nasty. Strictly 21st century mass-produced bullion I want to loook shiny.
The scientist in me likes the sound of the baking soda plus aluminium foil technique. "In theory" this should be harmless - just the silver sulphide toning should be broken back down to pure silver and aluminum sulphide(phate?). Have many tried this?
Another thing I have actually tried is silver jewelers cloth. It's basically a bit like a polish, but apparently gentler. I did have a cheap bullion bar with a little brown patch, and the cloth brought back the clean silver shine. No damage was visible to the naked eye (which was all I cared about on this 'bog-standard' bar), but I suspect an expert could detect it.
Those horrible looking Eagles I linked would be ideal to try things out on, but knowing eBay, they'll go at a big premium regardless....

If you are going to try best to find a very low value coin to experiment with that way you will lose very little if things don’t go well. For most people any form of cleaning that involves anything above soaking rarely gives a good result due to scratching. Especially on older or proof coins it mainly reduces value.

Provided the silver is only toned - and that can mean "deep black in the worst case" the only way I know of restoring to factory finish silver is to use an acid dip with e-Zest being one that I know and have used. It works a treat and you need to be careful with the timing in solution often only a few seconds.

If your coin is grubby with fingermarks you can try washing in hot soapy liquid using a cotton-wool ball to wipe.
Only start wiping after the coin has been soaked a little or agitated to remove any surface grit that will scratch the coin.
I use an ultrasonic cleaner and sometimes add a drop of ammonia.
Occasionally the fossilised fingerprints will still be obvious so sometimes washing in acetone can remove these.
Again use a soft cotton wool ball to wipe the surface then rinse in clean water and immediately pat dry.
Leaving water on the surface can most likely leave droplet rings.
Your very last resort to restoring some degree of a nice finish is to use metal polish.
However most commercial polishes add a noticeable finish that is obvious.
Perhaps you don't care but the coin definitely looks a lot better that the tatty one you just worked on.
I have experimented using a Dremel and jeweller's rouge.
You can buff out fine lines and blemishes as you are re-polishing the surface by removing the top layer.
Done carefully you can obtain great results BUT may coins have a semi-matt finish created by sand blasting.
Re-polishing will totally destroy this duller finish and your coin will definitely look different and I would say ruined but you are only valuing your second grade bullion by weight so it doesn't matter really.

 

Not on eBay! 100x1g complete can be had for about £150 inc. P&P, indeed a very large premium. (6 sold, according to listing)
However, broken down and sold on, folk are paying £3 including 2nd class post (66p). (39 sold, according to listing).
A lot of envelopes to lick, but that's a further £1+/g mark up after postage.

I do not doubt they did sell this many,However
you can have an ebay listing, for say "woolly socks, 99p", sell a dozen, then change the listing to PM's
it keeps the same item number, watchers and items sold. 
this is usually done to accrue "ranking points" and keeps the item near the top of the page
But can also be done to give an impression that it is a good deal
 

Not on eBay! 100x1g complete can be had for about £150 inc. P&P, indeed a very large premium. (6 sold, according to listing)
However, broken down and sold on, folk are paying £3 including 2nd class post (66p). (39 sold, according to listing).
A lot of envelopes to lick, but that's a further £1+/g mark up after postage.

The Royal Mint releases are always superior in my humble opinion. 

Jumped to £875 with a few seconds to go, then to £1,754 in the last second.

Jumped to £875 with a few seconds to go, then to £1,754 in the last second.

I've already got one  

At the time of posting, just 15 mins left, but "2020 2 Oz Silver Proof Three Graces NGC PF70UC" stll well under £1,000 on eBay.
 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133830114867?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
 
Is this really the same of those going for thousands? Maybe it will?

You can say that again! 🙂
Well spotted.
I also noticed that when I got home, after rushing at the office.
It took me 3 attempts to delete the duplicate photos, but TSF seemed to be intent on "helping" by restoring them.

I assume the post above is the image version of a typo? Or have you received a batch of double-headed Brits?
I assume the post above is the image version of a typo? Or have you received a batch of double-headed Brits?

I find it hard to belive that this, and all the other RM QC issues reported here over recent months, and this are unrelated...
 
They seem to be, quite literally, 'cutting corners'.
Good reputations are quite 'sticky' once you've earnt one. However, if you lose it, bad repuations are rather 'sticky' too...

These are past auctions from “The coin cabinet”. He is comparing sale prices for these coins in the last 4 auctions to show the movement in price.

They're just the identifying numbers for subsequent auctions. Usually they're held once per month. See here:
https://auctions.thecoincabinet.com/auctions/past

Could you not sell your vouchers, albeit at a slight discount, and use the proceeds to buy better value silver?

“Apocalyptic scenario” yeah like when your partner finds out how much you have actually been spending on gold! 

You could get over 1.40 US Dollars to the £ before the brexit vote and just under 1.20 dollars just after.  It wasn't so much that gold went up, but the purchasing power of the £ went down, which made it look like the proce of gold went up.

Speaking purely as a new member here, very much a newbie and still green when it comes to coins, I'm afraid your post, as it was written, did come across, not as "just asking a question" but as rude and whinging. It seems the me that the forum is friendly and welcoming.  I haven't, so far, detected a hierarchy, or at least not beyond that which you always get on all forums simply because some member genuinely are experts.  I have myself, in my short time here so far, posted a couple of questions, which were interesting to me, to which I didn't receive an answer.  I chalk it up to being so much of a newbie that my question itself is probably a stupid one.  But I'm learning!  Respectfully.  Eblend.

I bought my first ounce of gold at the peak too. It was the James Bond bullion bar from the royal mint for the high price of £1630. I still have the receipt. Right after I bought my first ounce of gold the spot price of gold dropped. At one point the was the low low price of £1300. I could have saved myself over £300 if I had predicted the drop in spot price or waited. But thats the market for you. Sometimes you buy on a high and sometimes you buy on a low. That’s just how the market goes. I bought more ounces of gold since then not at the peak which has cancelled each other out and bought the cost average price down. I am also of the mindset that you don’t lose money until you sell it. You may of made more money if you had bought something else or got it for cheaper if you times it perfectly. But you are never going to be able to always buy the prefect item or time the buy perfectly. There is no point in worrying about it as there is nothing you can do and you will never get anywhere. It’s a learning experience so you just need to learn from it and move on to your next venture. I am sure in time with both the slow recovery of the economy and high rate of inflation that it will not be long now until the spot price of gold goes back up and surpasses the recent high peak. But until then I have a nice James Bond bullion bar in my collection and I have got my foot in the door of gold stacking. What more can you ask for?

Well here is a fake Pan American 1 oz silver bar being passed off as real: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304066238085?hash=item46cbc29685:g:HJcAAOSwMstg7waq
 
This is a real one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333926297350?hash=item4dbf8eef06:g:iMIAAOSw6QpgVNli
 
Note the radius of the corners, much bigger on the I think is real, and the lettering on the back - big gap between the S of 'Silver' and the edge of bar vs. small gap on the fake.
 
Here is an honest seller: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352491732426
 
In your hand it is easy to tell - the fakes are 3 mm thick vs. just over 2 mm for the real ones (they are silver plated brass, so thicker to get the weight about right).
 
I'm seeing bars now that have the corner radius correct, but still have wrong gap by the S. Goodness knows if they are fake or real!