Storage Question

[Cam]

The Royal Mint website recommends not storing gold and silver together in order to avoid tarnishing. Does this mean that they cant be kept near each other, or does it just mean they shouldn't be touching?

[Seth]

2 hours ago, Cam said:

The Royal Mint website recommends not storing gold and silver together in order to avoid tarnishing. Does this mean that they cant be kept near each other, or does it just mean they shouldn't be touching?

I don't know if there is any truth to it being bad to store gold and silver together, I don't store mine together, but that's just for my convenience.

[BazzaC]

3 hours ago, Cam said:

The Royal Mint website recommends not storing gold and silver together in order to avoid tarnishing. Does this mean that they cant be kept near each other, or does it just mean they shouldn't be touching?

Not sure mate.

Royal mint recomends :

 

• Not storing gold and silver together. Keeping them together can cause damage and tarnishing of the metal.

I think if they are separated in the likes of a sealed nylon bag, but the bags are touching each other that would be fine.

I think. 

[Pete]

I'm no chemist but I fail to understand this advice.
Gold will not tarnish.
Silver will tarnish from contaminants, usually in the air like smoke etc. but if kept in a clean environment silver should remain shiny.
I've got silver stored with gold for 10+ years and both are fine.
I've also got some silver coins with gold highlights so unless someone knows different I think this guidance is questionable.
However 24ct gold is a relatively soft metal and maybe the fear is harder silver coins can rub against the gold and damage the gold surface.
 

[cypressc]

They have pulled gold coins out of ships that have been at the bottom of the ocean for decades and the coins look brand new. Gold does not tarnish.

[Michal]

As fare as i know silver tarnish because of sulfur in the air apart from debris mention above. 

[Minimalist]

3 hours ago, cypressc said:

They have pulled gold coins out of ships that have been at the bottom of the ocean for decades and the coins look brand new. Gold does not tarnish.

Any documentaries or reports on this? 

[sovereignsteve]

4 hours ago, Minimalist said:

Any documentaries or reports on this? 

The Duoro shipwreck sovereigns weren't tarnished but if one was being pedantic, I suppose the people who bought them at the auction didn't see them immediately they came out of the ocean🤔

[Minimalist]

35 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

The Duoro shipwreck sovereigns weren't tarnished but if one was being pedantic, I suppose the people who bought them at the auction didn't see them immediately they came out of the ocean🤔

Well… Obviously given the Duoro shipwreck was all gold. The OP is asking about silver and gold touching. 

[sovereignsteve]

28 minutes ago, Minimalist said:

Well… Obviously given the Duoro shipwreck was all gold. The OP is asking about silver and gold touching. 

Your point is?

I was responding to your question of reports concerning GOLD not tarnishing in sea water which is what you seemed to be questioning. You didn't mention the OP or the original question. Read your own post. 

[Minimalist]

5 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

Your point is?

I was responding to your question of reports concerning GOLD not tarnishing in sea water which is what you seemed to be questioning. You didn't mention the OP or the original question. Read your own post. 

No, I was seeking context over cypressc post. If he is actually meaning just gold fair enough, but with silver in ships is what im curious about. 

[sovereignsteve]

3 minutes ago, Minimalist said:

No, I was seeking context over cypressc post. If he is actually meaning just gold fair enough, but with silver in ships is what im curious about. 

I think there have been wrecks with both and silver but I'm not sure. I doubt it will be documented anywhere if the two metals were touching. I've seen plenty of silver coins that came out of wrecks and they are all well tarnished.

I would think it's certain that two types of metal in contact in sea water would cause tarnishing or degradation of one of them.

[Minimalist]

Just now, sovereignsteve said:

I've seen plenty of silver coins that came out of wrecks and they are all well tarnished.

I would think it's certain that two types of metal in contact in sea water would cause tarnishing or degradation of one of them.

Aye, all of them tend to be tarnished tbh. But actual bars have stood up well. 
 

Would love to see a film crew finding shipwrecked metal somewhere and see how Gold and Silver come out of it. Never seen that before!

[sovereignsteve]

1 minute ago, Minimalist said:

Aye, all of them tend to be tarnished tbh. But actual bars have stood up well. 
 

Would love to see a film crew finding shipwrecked metal somewhere and see how Gold and Silver come out of it. Never seen that before!

I'm sure I saw film footage once of the divers actually pulling out the coins, gold I think though. No idea whether it was live or staged though?

[Minimalist]

6 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

I'm sure I saw film footage once of the divers actually pulling out the coins, gold I think though. No idea whether it was live or staged though?

Did the Nazis not have both metals or just Gold?

[AurumArgenti]

Gold is inert in the chemical sense because it does not react with any other substances and this is attributed to the stable and balanced configuration its electrons.

[AurumArgenti]

Gold is unaffected by air, water, alkalis and all acids except aqua regia (a mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid) which can dissolve gold. Gold does react with halogens. ... Unusually for a metal, gold can also form compounds (aurides) in which its oxidation number is negative (-1).

[Au79]

https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/discover-bullion/a-guide-to-storing-bullion/
 

Perhaps we should relook into the context again, 

- Storage at home

- Bullion, coins or bars

- Not storing gold and silver together. Keeping them together can cause damage and tarnishing of the metal.

Hence the recommendation is suggesting the storage Au & Ag at home environment CAN cause physical damage due to difference in purity and density, and tarnish of metal refers to Ag, generally everyone should know Au is inert.