How do you guys protect you bars

[FFkook]

So, I have some bars beginning to go black, even in their seal. Plan is to polish them with a silver cloth and silver polish, but then I want to protect them. How do you guys seal them, zip bags or what?

[Pipers]

Don't, I mainly have coins but the few bars I have are all black dirty things it gives the character.  Some on here will have a different view, the one thing you do not want to do is reduce the value of the bars!

[Mcgrimes]

Doesn’t a bath of hot water, bicarbonate of soda and foil help relieve tarnish? Expect a pungent eggy smell

[mr-dead]

I wouldn't bother, the advantage of bars over coins is that you dont have to worry about milk spots and tarnish.

You could give them a once over with some silver cloths or something like autosol to make them shine when it comes time to sell as some people like the shiny look.

[sixgun]

Bars going black? i have lots of bars and none of them are black or going black.

Perhaps it is a difference in words used in description. Some may be getting a tiny bit more tarnished.

i have PAMP Fortuna bars - they are in original cases. They were very shiny the last time i looked. 

i have quite a few 'vintage' bars. In my eyes they are better for a modicum of tarnish, indeed they are potentially slightly more saleable if not valuable.

[FFkook]

43 minutes ago, sixgun said:

Bars going black? i have lots of bars and none of them are black or going black.

Perhaps it is a difference in words used in description. Some may be getting a tiny bit more tarnished.

i have PAMP Fortuna bars - they are in original cases. They were very shiny the last time i looked. 

i have quite a few 'vintage' bars. In my eyes they are better for a modicum of tarnish, indeed they are potentially slightly more saleable if not valuable.

Let me show you the worst and blackened one I have:

 

[sixgun]

Leave them. This happens sometimes. i would keep them in the original packaging. If you are really put off you can buy some 'Silver Dip'

https://www.goddards.com/products/metal-cleaners-polishes/silver-dip

There will probably be something similar where you are. This would remove the tarnish but you would need to remove it from the packaging so on balance i would leave it things as they are.

[FFkook]

12 minutes ago, sixgun said:

Leave them. This happens sometimes. i would keep them in the original packaging. If you are really put off you can buy some 'Silver Dip'

https://www.goddards.com/products/metal-cleaners-polishes/silver-dip

There will probably be something similar where you are. This would remove the tarnish but you would need to remove it from the packaging so on balance i would leave it things as they are.

I could also buy some plastic new seals, they cost about 4 pounds per 100... Can use them for the coins as well.. Is it really a necessity to leave them in the original seals?

[StackSellRepeat]

This is normal & a good sign that your silver is genuine, silver tarnishes very easily due to oxygen in the air. There are a few simple methods to avoid oxidation;

 

1) storage, avoid keeping silver in the bedroom due to the high level of oxygen released from our bodies during sleep.

2) keep your bars in heavy duty clear bags (ZIP LOCK BAGS) the cheap ones don’t work but the thick ones work like a charm & will keep your silver looking fresh for years.

 

i wouldn’t bother opening the original plastic to clean that bar, let the new owner worry about that as It can affect premium in the more vintage bars. But if you do decide to clean your silver any silver polish should do the trick, or you can use baking soda/salt & the aluminium foil method which is cost effective but the results are not long lasting.

 

hope this helps    

[sixgun]

The bar on show has tarnish down one edge. One could argue at some point it has been in contact with something causing this. At the same time it remains in the original pack, so was this something that happened in manufacture?

Tarnish shows the bar's surface is silver - silver plate would do the same.

As i understand it silver tarnish is a silver sulphide, not an oxide. Things like onions, eggs and garlic promote the tarnishing process.

i misread StackSellRepeat's post - i now see he says silver should not be stored in the bedroom - i cannot confirm that. The reason he gives is that oxygen levels in the bedroom are higher as bodies release oxygen during sleep - the human body never releases oxygen, we breathe out carbon dioxide.

i might theorise keep silver in the bedroom as it is further away from cooking being in the bedroom. i have also read that if silver is handled by people who eat onions, eggs, garlic (and possibly other food) it is more likely to tarnish. So in general don't handle silver (i like onions, garlic and eggs). Wear gloves. i think silver is more likely to tarnish in a city environment. This is really only an issue with coins - bar devotees are not bothered about tarnish except when it comes to some Art bars like the PAMP Fortunas.

We might theorise bedrooms tend to be cooler and potentially damper - so this might accelerate the tarnishing process.

i also see it mentioned plastics contain sulphur and so don't store them in plastics. i get the impression there is much confusion.

[kimchi]

My Metalor 1kgs can tarnish all they like, they will always be worth the same regardless imho. If someone wants a shiny bar of the same age they can look elsewhere, or for a premium I will polish them up for them!

[SILVERFINGER]

My prefered method to protect my bars is with a PTRD41 anti tank rifle,

 

 

 

 

should that fail I only buy cast/poured bars that I only handle with gloves and give a very light polish if I have to.

 

[StackSellRepeat]

5 minutes ago, SILVERFINGER said:

My prefered method to protect my bars is with a PTRD41 anti tank rifle,

 

 

 

 

should that fail I only buy cast/poured bars that I only handle with gloves and give a very light polish if I have to.

 

Sure looks like it packs a punch, if I ever dislocate my shoulder I’ll be calling Dr S,Finger ????  You might even get to put that finger to use ???

[PansPurse]

5 hours ago, StackSellRepeat said:

1) storage, avoid keeping silver in the bedroom due to the high level of oxygen released from our bodies during sleep.

Do you have a source for that information because that sounds... rather counter-intuitive?

[Bimetallic]

On 31/07/2018 at 18:25, FFkook said:

So, I have some bars beginning to go black, even in their seal. Plan is to polish them with a silver cloth and silver polish, but then I want to protect them. How do you guys seal them, zip bags or what?

I too was surprised by how quickly pure silver bullion tarnishes. I've done a bit of research and streamlined the tarnish-removal and prevention steps.

Tarnish removal:

First, forget about polishing your bars. Avoid any method that involves rubbing the silver – it's unnecessary and removes silver.

Use the method Mcgrimes mentioned. Conventionally, the procedure is to line a bowl with aluminum foil, pour boiling water into it, add a tablespoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of salt, then drop the coin or bar in and watch the magic happen. The sulfur-based tarnish disappears. (Your tarnish is sulfur-based.)

Perfectionist that I am, I've streamlined the method. First, I discovered disposable aluminum foil food trays. They come in all sizes and shapes, and the small tart pans are perfectly sized for this task. I ordered these from Amazon – they're 20 cents a pan (50 pans for ten bucks), and you can probably reuse them. You can get similar aluminum foil pans from any supermarket or Walmart. You'll want the smallest you can find. With these, you no longer need a bowl or aluminum foil sheets – two birds with one stone.

A good fallback is heavy duty aluminum foil, which all supermarkets sell. I've found that regular aluminum foil is easy to punch a hole through when shaping it inside a bowl, but that might just be my clumsiness or something. Anyway, if I was using foil sheets, I'd get the heavy duty. It's less than five bucks for a roll.

Baking soda is baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). I've never seen a brand that had anything added to it, so just get the cheapest store brand.

Salt, however, is not just salt. It typically has anti-caking agents added to it, sometimes other minerals, and often iodine. If you want the purest reaction possible, get pure, fine-grained salt (fine-grained so it dissolves fast). There is one kind of salt that meets this criteria – canning and pickling salt. It's pure, and fine. The only brand I know of is Morton's version, and you can get a big box of it at Walmart for less than two bucks. It's a black and green box, distinctive from all the other Morton's salt.

(Canning and pickling salt is pure because anti-caking agents settle on the bottom and might cause other problems.) Once opened, I keep the salt box, and the baking soda, in ziploc freezer bags to prevent them from caking, and protect them from moisture, contamination, etc.

Protection/prevention:

As for protecting the bars, Ziploc bags are a good solution. You currently have your bars in unsealed flips, which is what I used to do and which almost guarantees tarnish.

I found sandwich bags to be a bit oversized and flippy floppy for one or two bars or coins. What I discovered instead was the Ziploc snack bags, which are significantly smaller. I recommend the double seal kind to maximize the protection, and be sure to flatten out the air in the bag just before sealing it. (A kitchen vacuum sealer would be even better, but might be overkill.) They should have them at Walmart and most supermarkets.

[sixgun]

11 minutes ago, PansPurse said:

Do you have a source for that information because that sounds... rather counter-intuitive?

The oxygen level in a bedroom will be slightly lower especially if the door is shut b/c the occupants will be breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. Tarnish is silver sulphide not oxide anyway. i suggested the bedroom is likely cooler and potentially damper.

The problem is tarnishing may take years to develop so unless long term controlled studies have been done we are left guessing as to how to best store our silver.

[StackSellRepeat]

2 hours ago, PansPurse said:

Do you have a source for that information because that sounds... rather counter-intuitive?

Google it chap, I read it a few years ago on a few articles online. I tested the theory by leaving a bar in a unused bedside draw & one sealed in zip lock bag..... after a month or so the unsealed bar did Have visible patina.... oh and if your a smoker avoid touching high premium uncapsulated bars & coins. (Higher chances of tarnish).

[StackSellRepeat]

Not sure how all you guys store your silver, but I’ve kept my coins & bars individually packed in zip lock bags (GOOD QUALITY HEAVY DUTY PRICY BUT WORTH IT) then put In air tight containers/buckets/barrels with a few silica packs in each container to absorb any moister.... I’ve been using this method for around 7-8 years every 6 months to a year I go through the lots & it works Like a charm ?

[augur]

@StackSellRepeat I will have to burst your oxygen bubble: @sixgun is right in that we use up a oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. But your empiric experience that silver tarnishes quickly in the bedroom is correct: we release high quantities of sulfides in our sleep. Meaning we are farting our silver black in our sleep. Only place worse to store silver open is therefore the bathroom. 

[sixgun]

1 minute ago, augur said:

@StackSellRepeat I will have to burst your oxygen bubble: @sixgun is right in that we use up a oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. But your empiric experience that silver tarnishes quickly in the bedroom is correct: we release high quantities of sulfides in our sleep. Meaning we are farting our silver black in our sleep. Only place worse to store silver open is therefore the bathroom. 

Only a German would know these facts.

[StackSellRepeat]

8 minutes ago, augur said:

@StackSellRepeat I will have to burst your oxygen bubble: @sixgun is right in that we use up a oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. But your empiric experience that silver tarnishes quickly in the bedroom is correct: we release high quantities of sulfides in our sleep. Meaning we are farting our silver black in our sleep. Only place worse to store silver open is therefore the bathroom. 

@augur I had carbon dioxide mixed up with oxygen, failed science I wonder why ? 

[mr1030]

Like some of the others above have mentioned, tarnish is silver sulfide and is a result of contact with sulfur compounds that are common in the air.  Areas with higher industrial pollutants in the air will result in quicker tarnishing effects.  Only way you can avoid it is to seal the bars in an inert holder that isn't going to give off sulfur compound fumes.  That pouch your bar is in is either letting air permeate thru it or it's emitting sulfur fumes itself which some cheaper poly bags do when they age or are heated up.  Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.  I have bars I bought almost 40 years ago that have tarnished and I will still get bullion value for them.  Unless they are art bars, or have some rarity that you have determined have some collector value to them, its just bullion.