Metalor 1kg Blackening

[SlowFrog]

Hi!

I purchased a couple of silver Metalor 1kg bars from Atkinson's several years ago. Had them wrapped in their original plastic sandwich bags (lol, that's what they came in) all that time and I took them out of a dry/safe place to check them a few days ago and noticed 1/4 of the bars is now tarnished and turning black. I know this is normal for silver but was wondering if you would clean them or just leave as is? If you would clean them, what would you use and how would you store to prevent it happening again?

Cheers!

[James32]

27 minutes ago, SlowFrog said:

Hi!

I purchased a couple of silver Metalor 1kg bars from Atkinson's several years ago. Had them wrapped in their original plastic sandwich bags (lol, that's what they came in) all that time and I took them out of a dry/safe place to check them a few days ago and noticed 1/4 of the bars is now tarnished and turning black. I know this is normal for silver but was wondering if you would clean them or just leave as is? If you would clean them, what would you use and how would you store to prevent it happening again?

Cheers!

 

[James32]

28 minutes ago, SlowFrog said:

Hi!

I purchased a couple of silver Metalor 1kg bars from Atkinson's several years ago. Had them wrapped in their original plastic sandwich bags (lol, that's what they came in) all that time and I took them out of a dry/safe place to check them a few days ago and noticed 1/4 of the bars is now tarnished and turning black. I know this is normal for silver but was wondering if you would clean them or just leave as is? If you would clean them, what would you use and how would you store to prevent it happening again?

Cheers!

Basically baking soda some foil and hot water.....in my opinion clean them if they annoy you but please never use this method on Numismatics coins or bars ( big no no)

Be advised it will remove the smallest amount of metal too ( unnoticeable on a 1kg bar though)

[Arganto]

3 hours ago, James32 said:

it will remove the smallest amount of metal

Are you sure? I didn't think the reaction affected the silver itself, more that the exothermic reaction agitates material that has clung to the surface? 

[James32]

1 minute ago, Liam84 said:

Are you sure? I didn't think the reaction affected the silver itself, more that the exothermic reaction agitates material that has clung to the surface? 

Im inclined to agree with you ,but I was force fed that info by a ( self proclaimed scientist on another forum) 😅😅

Thought it was best to include ( just incase)

What I can say is I've tried the above on a silver bar and it works plus there's no discernible difference to weight afterwards. 

[LawrenceChard]

4 hours ago, SlowFrog said:

Hi!

I purchased a couple of silver Metalor 1kg bars from Atkinson's several years ago. Had them wrapped in their original plastic sandwich bags (lol, that's what they came in) all that time and I took them out of a dry/safe place to check them a few days ago and noticed 1/4 of the bars is now tarnished and turning black. I know this is normal for silver but was wondering if you would clean them or just leave as is? If you would clean them, what would you use and how would you store to prevent it happening again?

Cheers!

It is a well known fact that Atkinsons buy all Metalor's rejects.

I am only joking!

Please don't anyone selectively quote me. 😎

On a serious note, this happens with silver, and it is best just to accept it, IMO.

If you could ensure your storage was competely airtight, it should not happen.

The electrolytic process described is well attested, so should be OK if you really dislike the tarnish / toning.

I suspect that when the silver sulphide gets removed, some slight silver loss occurs, but have never got round to trying to check.

Repeated tarnish removal adversely affects the surface of the item, which is another good reason to avoid it.

If anyone has any Goddard's Silver Dip, try leaving a junk silver coin in it for a few days. It would probably be worth taking before and after photos. 

 On the plus side, it might make milk spotting look good in comparison.

[daca]

16 hours ago, SlowFrog said:

Leave as is, no point in cleaning they will just tarnish again.

[Centauri167]

If it is just for getting a non-numismatic piece of silver back nice and shiny, why not just use a silver polish product for coins ?

I used the baking soda way once and I think it is so much work to get it really clean, so using a special product to clean coins is so much easier.

( I use it for really dirty 90% junk silver coins, just because they look nicer when they are clean, value wise it does not make an impact because it is junk silver ... )

Edited December 1, 2021 by Centauri167
typing error

[motorbikez]

I'd leave as is, it won't make any difference to the value of the bar, if it bugs you clean by any of the methods brought up by other members.

[SlowFrog]

Thank you all for the comments! I will definitely be leaving them as they are then 👍

Edited December 1, 2021 by SlowFrog

[StackemHigh]

OOft cleaning is a big NO NO. A very small layer of silver would be removed using silver polish. On a bar it wouldn't be noticable but it would leave noticable results on a BU or Proof.