Milk spots (Britannia).

[graham200666]

Have some 1oz silver brits in a display case and was gutted to find the 2019 brits x2 had milk spotted.

Now as they are only bullion coins i took the chance and used a rubber to get rid of the spots on one of the coins. Although it removed the milk spots i was not impressed as the coin lost some of the shine. 

I watched the video on you tube of Backyard Bullion doing this but he did it on some kangaroo's but they do not have the same really bright shine as the brits.

I really like the Brits because of the way they shine as you tilt them and this really took the shine away.

 

Coin collectors please stop reading now as this may upset you.

Well today as i was not happy with the coin so had nothing to lose i put some car polish (Auto Glym super resin polish) on the coin and used a small polishing disk on my dremel  then wiped off with my cotton glove.

The shine was back to what it was like before i used the rubber and could not see any sign of scratching. I put next to another coin that had never been out of the capsule before and i could not tell them apart by eye.

As i have 2 coins from each year in the box and the other 2019 had milk spots on the queens face side i though i would polish that one with the car polish without the rubber first to see if the polish removed the milk spots. 

The queens face on the brits is a really nice shine so was worried even tiny marks would be seen with the naked eye but again i had little to lose so polished with the dremel which quickly removed the milk spots.

Most coin collectors if they kept reading would be having a heart attack by now but i was really really amazed at the result.

Tilting the coin under a light i can see no sign of even a slight scratch and thats on the glossy part of the queens face.

By looking at an uncleaned one side by side i honestly can not tell which one i have cleaned.

 

I took a photo of before and after but is a poor camera on a cheap phone so is impossible to show just how well it came out.

On the photo after cleaning it looks like there is still a milk spot on the queens neck but that is just light glaring back when i took the photo.

 

Remember the photo's do not do it justice but if you have a cheap badly milk spotted coin around give it a go.

Also remember i did say i would only try this with a cheap bullion coin as i had nothing to lose.

I only posted this because even though they are cheap bullion coins i was gutted to find the milk spots and am sure others have felt the same.

 

 

[graham200666]

Oh remember i said Auto Glym which is a liquid polish and NOT  Autosol which is a paste.

[NewCoins]

Off to Halfords to clean my proofs...

[GoldDiggerDave]

Will Anusol Haemorrhoid cream work?  Would be good if it sorted more than one pain in the arse! 

[Arganto]

I did something similar with some Meguiar's polish on some super milky Britannias, although I used a smooth polishing cloth by hand. I was surprised at how well they came out with no discernible marking from the cleaning. There's a thread on here somewhere. Certainly loads better than leaving them as they were. Good polish is designed to remove minor scratches and swirl marks from car paint whilst being as gentle as possible, so it's obviously less aggressive than traditional metal polish. 

Nice one 😁

 

[graham200666]

Thanks Liam.

I thought long and hard about posting this as was expecting much p1ss taking from the proof collecting members on here but was amazed how well it turned out.

I only stack bullion coins that i like and finding it covered in milk spots gutted me as im sure it has with other stackers so i ran the risk of ridicule by some other members on here.

[TommyTwoShots]

Doesn’t matter either way mate, it’s just silver bullion. You should do what you want with your coins if it makes them shiny again.

[Arganto]

It's your metal to hold and do with as you wish. Even if you wanted to clean a proof coin it would be your choice, although it's not a great idea as they usually end up looking worse...

One of the lads was 'antiquing' silver proof £1 coins at one point, as far as I remember he got nothing but compliments for doing a decent job.

Some people will approve, some won't, of cleaning and coin alteration. If you ever come to sell as long as you take very detailed photographs of coins that have been hit with the cleaning stick I can't see an issue.

[GoldDiggerDave]

I've heard a pencil eraser works on milk spots.   I might try and clean one up for fun.  

[GoldDiggerDave]

1 hour ago, graham200666 said:

Thanks Liam.

I thought long and hard about posting this as was expecting much p1ss taking from the proof collecting members on here but was amazed how well it turned out.

I only stack bullion coins that i like and finding it covered in milk spots gutted me as im sure it has with other stackers so i ran the risk of ridicule by some other members on here.

Graham you might have started something here.  Most of use have milky silvers   I'm going to take some before and after on the worst offenders.

[HawkHybrid]

2 hours ago, graham200666 said:

Thanks Liam.

I thought long and hard about posting this as was expecting much p1ss taking from the proof collecting members on here but was amazed how well it turned out.

I only stack bullion coins that i like and finding it covered in milk spots gutted me as im sure it has with other stackers so i ran the risk of ridicule by some other members on here.

 

there is nothing wrong with cleaning your own coin.

however there is a problem with knowingly not declaring that the coin has been cleaned when you list it for sale.

for some buyers it makes a difference if the coin has been cleaned or not.

(I don't claim to understand it, just stating what is)

 

HH

[LawrenceChard]

6 hours ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

Will Anusol Haemorrhoid cream work?  Would be good if it sorted more than one pain in the arse! 

Probably only works on the backside of the coin (sorry, reverse).

Might also turn "stacks" into "piles"!

Best to test it out first on an ancient Roman "As".

[LawrenceChard]

16 hours ago, graham200666 said:

Well today as i was not happy with the coin so had nothing to lose i put some car polish (Auto Glym super resin polish) on the coin and used a small polishing disk on my dremel  then wiped off with my cotton glove.

 

Bravo for posting about this, but I would not recommend it, except on "Metallic Silver" cars. 🙂

Perhaps Auto Glym could be re-branded as AG, or Ag polish?

Edited June 5, 2021 by LawrenceChard

[graham200666]

8 hours ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

I've heard a pencil eraser works on milk spots.   I might try and clean one up for fun.  

I tried that first on another coin but took the high gloss shine off the coin, it ended up looking dull finish like in the ASE so i did again in polish and it put the shine back.

Not sure if you use a polishing cloth would work as good but try the way i did it with a really soft polishing pad on high speed with dremel.

 

I could sell the non milk spot brit for about £27, with the milk spots about £25.

If it went wrong and scratched the hell out of it i would still get £20 for the coin for melt so its not a £25 gamble but just a £5 gamble.

 

[pricha]

It's bullion, do want you want . I have some in the garden the past year in all weather hoping for some nice toning 😂

[graham200666]

7 hours ago, HawkHybrid said:

 

there is nothing wrong with cleaning your own coin.

however there is a problem with knowingly not declaring that the coin has been cleaned when you list it for sale.

for some buyers it makes a difference if the coin has been cleaned or not.

(I don't claim to understand it, just stating what is)

 

HH

I understand but it was just a simple Brit Bullion coin. Even buying new Brits from the mint is a gamble, you can get a nice one but just as easy could end up getting one scratched to hell.

[GoldDiggerDave]

14 minutes ago, pricha said:

It's bullion, do want you want . I have some in the garden the past year in all weather hoping for some nice toning 😂

I love some American Eagles with the purple toning, I wouldn’t mind if Brits toned like that. 

[HillWalkerDundee]

I have a Dremmel 🙂

[HawkHybrid]

having cleaned the coin, would the best next move be to apply an antique(or any other) coating to

the surface of the coin?

 

HH

[Silversavant]

Looks really good! Now where did I out that Eid Mar...

[SilverStorm]

Slightly off-topic, but do any of you have 2018 and newer Canadian 1oz silver maple leafs?   They are supposedly free of milk spots (or greatly reduced) as they have MintShield built into them.   My small SML collection are all 2021, so it's too early for me to say it works.    I'm surprised that the Royal Mint doesn't implement similar technology to reduce milk spots on their Britannia's.    

Link: MINTSHIELD™ Surface Protection

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by SilverStorm

[graham200666]

10 minutes ago, SilverStorm said:

Slightly off-topic, but do any of you have 2018 and newer Canadian 1oz silver maple leafs?   They are supposedly free of milk spots (or greatly reduced) as they have MintShield built into them.   My small SML collection are all 2021, so it's too early for me to say it works.    I'm surprised that the Royal Mint doesn't implement similar technology to reduce milk spots on their Britannia's.    

Link: MINTSHIELD™ Surface Protection

 

I have just over 6 tubes of 2019 maples. 2 tubes i have listed and i had a quick check for milk spots before listing and i saw no sign of the dreaded milk spots.

If i get time later i will check the rest.

It did seem maples suffered badly before 2018 so lets hope they cracked it. Im a little nervous to check the rest of my stack lol.

[SilverStorm]

3 minutes ago, graham200666 said:

I have just over 6 tubes of 2019 maples. 2 tubes i have listed and i had a quick check for milk spots before listing and i saw no sign of the dreaded milk spots.

If i get time later i will check the rest.

It did seem maples suffered badly before 2018 so lets hope they cracked it. Im a little nervous to check the rest of my stack lol.

That is good news!    👍

[Arganto]

4 hours ago, SilverStorm said:

Slightly off-topic, but do any of you have 2018 and newer Canadian 1oz silver maple leafs?   They are supposedly free of milk spots (or greatly reduced) as they have MintShield built into them.   My small SML collection are all 2021, so it's too early for me to say it works.    I'm surprised that the Royal Mint doesn't implement similar technology to reduce milk spots on their Britannia's.    

Link: MINTSHIELD™ Surface Protection

 

Sounds gimmicky to me, maybe they just stopped leaving borax on the coins and decided to call it new technology rather than admit it 🤣

[SilverStorm]

38 minutes ago, Liam84 said:

Sounds gimmicky to me, maybe they just stopped leaving borax on the coins and decided to call it new technology rather than admit it 🤣

If that’s true, the Royal Mint et al would have done the same.  😁