Mildew!!

[Dordelli]

Left my silver in a safe with no Humidity protection for about two months and here are the results. I guess airtites are not that airtight and the Southern California air is much more humid than I thought. The Safe now reeks of mildew and I am bummed that most of my silver collection has black and discolored edges.

 

Can I clean them safely and if I do not remove the mildew, will it continue to grow?

 

[BadThad]

What you have is toning, not mildew. All coins will tone with time, it's a natural process. The rate of toning is highly dependent on the storage conditions. If you want to essentially stop the toning process you must use multiple layers of protection.

 

For my collection the first level starts with an Air-Tite brand holder. Then I use combinations of 2x2's, binder pages, ziplock bags and tupperware. In the first ziplock bag I add a "sacraficial", MS red copper cent that has been harsly cleaned. Any gases that make contact with it will be absored thereby protecting my collection down deeper in the layers.

 

In the case of silver the biggest problem you face is a chemical prevalent in air called sulfide gas. There's no avoiding it....do a google search. Good reading for you is a book called Coin Chemistry. It will answer all your questions about toning.

 

As far as the coins and bars.....they cure is called a acid-thiourea dip.

 

http://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/product/e-z-est-speedip-10-ounce.html

 

You have to be VERY careful with this chemical. If you over-use it, you'll ruin y our silver permanently!

[Dordelli]

I did assume at first it was just natural toning too, but even on the inside of the holders that were holding these coins, smelled of mildew. I air dryed the coins for a few days and replaced the holders and hopefully it does not keep progressing.

[Coin Maniac2-migration]

If that does not work, there is nothing else to do.

[wygold]

I would keep the tone process to continue. There are many people out there that like the toning on a coin even if it's a ASE, IMO.