A Quick question about distilled water

[MrZun]

Can cleaning ancient silver Denarius with soaking them in distilled water damage the coin or remove the patina?

[MrZun]

And can It remove silver from the coin itself?

[DonnaML]

I've never heard of soaking a coin in distilled water doing any harm in and of itself. Even if it doesn't necessarily help make a coin look better.

Edited January 9 by DonnaML

[Amarmur]

No it won't damage it, soak it as much as you please

[Ryro]

No issues. Being distilled means it's neutral. Neither base nor acid. 

[ela126]

Distilled water is used to clean bronze coins by pulling minerals, specifically salts, from dirt, to break down the “concrete” nature and make it easier to clean. Distilled water is “hungry” as it wants to drink up ions from the minerals to stabilize itself.

That being the case, I don’t think it will do much of anything to silver. Unless the silver itself has dirt on it. It shouldn’t effect the toning or silver itself.

[Marsyas Mike]

I've had really good luck with distilled water, rather to my surprise.  Mostly I use it on AE coins for crud and bronze disease, but the few silver coins I've soaked do not seem harmed.  

 

[Al Kowsky]

I agree with all the comments posted by other members ☺️.

[shanxi]

One note. Often the distilled water is not distilled but deionized, which means that the metal ions are replaced by H+. In this case the "deionized" water is slightly acidic. So take care that your water is distilled and not deionized.

Edited January 9 by shanxi

[MrZun]

The silver that turned into tooning because of oxidation can be removed using it? Or does It get preserved. I am thinking about soaking them every 5 months to Clean them from salts and dirt. 

[Al Kowsky]

2 hours ago, MrZun said:

The silver that turned into tooning because of oxidation can be removed using it? Or does It get preserved. I am thinking about soaking them every 5 months to Clean them from salts and dirt. 

I don't see any point is perpetually soaking the coin 🤔. Try soaking once in distilled water for a day or two & move on 😏.....

[MrZun]

True. But what i found out is that the coins do get dirty. Even If you handle them well and have a place safe for storage. I gave them a soak of 30 min, and It was amazing How much dirt It left from them, but some didnt change much. I then used a cotton cloth and a lot of Black stain stayed in It. And some Black stuff in the bust of my Trajan Denarius left the coin. And the patina and colour and tooning stayed. My Vespasian that has yellow with blue tooning around, It kept It, my Septimius one kept its dark yellowish tone too. I Will prob do It again after 5 month or an year

[MrZun]

True. But what i found out is that the coins do get dirty. Even If you handle them well and have a place safe for storage. I gave them a soak of 30 min, and It was amazing How much dirt It left from them, but some didnt change much. I then used a cotton cloth and a lot of Black stain stayed in It. And some Black stuff in the bust of my Trajan Denarius left the coin. And the patina and colour and tooning stayed. My Vespasian that has yellow with blue tooning around, It kept It, my Septimius one kept its dark yellowish tone too. I Will prob do It again after 5 month or an year. 

However, they become verybright after the process, but a day later they have already reduced the color and are perfect