Guide · 6-minute read
Should you clean or polish gold and silver before you sell it?
The short answer
No. Polishing removes metal, and it wears a hallmark away faster than the surface around it; on coins and old silver it can also remove value that was never about the metal. Tarnish does not change what a piece is made of or what it weighs, so dust it dry, photograph the marks as they are, and leave it like that.
Why polishing costs the seller and not the buyer
Cleaning silver before handing it over feels like good manners, and in most of life presenting things well is a sound instinct. Here it works against you, for a simple physical reason.
A polishing cloth does not lift tarnish off the way a duster lifts dust. Abrasive cleaners work by cutting the surface. Icon, the Institute of Conservation, says that wadding, creams and rouge sticks remove much more of the silver surface than chemical methods, and that over time repeated cleaning wears away the silver and any engraving or inscription. Even for light cleaning with a cloth, it reminds owners that each time you do this you are removing a little of the original surface.
Think about where the cloth presses hardest: the crest of a rim, the shoulder of a spoon handle, the edge of a foot. A hallmark is punched into the metal, and its fine raised detail and the surface around it are what a cloth wears down first. Decades of polishing take a mark from crisp to soft to unreadable.
Why a worn mark matters
The Assay Offices' guidance notes say it is not possible to detect by sight or by touch the precious metal content of an item, which is why the mark is the quickest way to identify a piece. Rub it away and the piece can only be identified by testing. Anything that might make it worth more than its metal, such as a maker, a date or an assay office, becomes harder to establish. The loss is yours, because it is your piece that can no longer be traced.
The metal lost matters less than people expect; the identity lost matters more. One polish takes too little off a tray to show on a scale. Thirty years of polishing before every Christmas can leave a set of marks nobody can read, and the hallmarks guide shows how much those few millimetres can tell.
Coins are the stricter case
All of this applies to a coin with more force, because on a coin the damage cannot be hidden.
A coin's surface as it left the press has its own texture. Cleaning replaces it with a flat brightness and fine parallel scratches that anyone who handles coins spots at once, and it cannot be undone. The Royal Mint says you don't need to clean gold bullion, and that doing so may damage a mint finish. It also asks owners to pick coins up with finger and thumb around the edge, without touching either face.
The cost is higher on a coin than on a spoon because a coin can carry value that has nothing to do with its metal: a scarce date, a mint mark, a good strike, an original surface. Cleaning removes that part. A sovereign that might have sold as a coin ends up sold as gold, and the sovereigns guide explains the difference between the two.
If you are about to clean a coin, stop
Not with a cloth, a dip, toothpaste, lemon juice or a pencil eraser. A dark, dull, untouched coin is in the state collectors and dealers prefer to see. Photograph it as it is, on something plain, and ask before you touch it.
What tarnish actually is
People clean silver because tarnish looks like neglect. It is nothing of the kind, and knowing what it is makes it easier to leave alone.
Icon describes tarnish as a gradual discolouration caused by sulphur compounds in the air: the metal turns pink, then brown, then a very dark grey or black with a slight sheen of colour. Wool, silk and leather contain sulphur compounds too, which is why a canteen in its lined case can darken more than a tray on a sideboard. Fingers play a part as well: the salts and grease on skin can mark a polished surface for good.
The film is thin and sits on the surface. It makes no meaningful difference to what the piece weighs or what the metal beneath it is, and it is no sign that a piece has been badly kept.
Tarnish can also tell you something. Where gilding or plating has worn, the metal underneath often tarnishes differently from the layer on top, and the pattern shows how the piece was made. A gold-coloured chain going grey at the link tips is usually gilded silver. The guides to plated and filled gold and to silver plate read surfaces this way, and polishing wipes that evidence off.
Green or crusty deposits are different. They are corrosion of the copper in a silver alloy, and Icon advises that extensive green corrosion is a job for a specialist conservator, not a cloth.
What is worth doing before you post
Very little, and none of it involves a cleaner.
- A dry dust, and nothing moreA soft, clean, lint-free cloth or a very soft brush, used dry. Icon recommends this as ordinary care, because dust attracts moisture. Before selling it has one purpose: letting a camera see a mark that was under a film of dust.
- Take off what is crumbling, and keep itA rotted leather watch strap or a disintegrating cord on a pendant can shed onto other pieces in a parcel. Leave medal ribbons, original boxes, case linings and anything sewn or mounted exactly as they are. Keep anything you do take off, in case it belongs with the piece later.
- Photograph the marks as they areLet the light fall across the mark rather than straight onto it, hold the camera as close as it will focus, take three or four pictures and keep the sharpest. A tarnished mark photographs well, and in some light the darkened recesses make it easier to read than a polished one.
That is all. The posting guide covers packing once you have decided what is going, and the photo estimate page explains where to send the pictures.
Seller risks and exceptions
- Dipping before you ask. Icon explains that a silver dip works by chemically dissolving the tarnish and leaves a very reactive surface that tarnishes again quickly. On a piece with its original patina, or anything collectors want, the change cannot be reversed.
- Using the wrong cleaner. Icon warns against brass and chrome cleaners on silver, which contain much harsher chemicals and abrasives, and against electrochemical cleaners, which deposit a layer of another metal on top and permanently hide the original finish.
- Scrubbing a mark to read it. The mark is the thing you are trying to keep. Change the light, or move the camera, instead.
- Cleaning a piece that ought to go to a specialist. Auction houses and dealers notice a cleaned surface at once, and a cleaned antique is usually worth less than an untouched one.
- Cleaning to make a good impression. Tarnish does not change the metal, the weight or a test result, so there is nothing to gain by removing it.
- Polishing a plated piece to see what is underneath. Plating is measured in microns, and an abrasive goes straight through it, which damages the piece and settles nothing. Testing at home covers the checks that are safe to try.
When not to use this route
If you wanted to clean it because it looked special, take that as a signal
The urge to make a piece presentable is usually strongest for the pieces that matter as objects, and cleaning harms those most. A coin with an untouched surface, antique silver with its original surface, a signed piece and anything with green corrosion should be seen by a specialist or a conservator first. Keep the cloth away from all of them.
The checklist in antique silver or scrap picks out the pieces that should not be sold for their metal at all, and valuation, appraisal or offer explains who to ask when a piece needs a specialist. For everyday silver, the sell silver page explains what happens when you are ready.
Questions sellers ask
Should I clean silver before selling it?
No. Polishing removes a little of the surface every time and wears the hallmark down first, and a worn mark makes a piece harder to identify. Tarnish makes no difference to what the metal is or what it weighs. Dust it dry and leave it.
Does tarnish affect what my silver is worth?
Not as metal. Tarnish is a thin surface film caused by sulphur compounds in the air, and it does not change the metal underneath or its weight in any way that matters. On a piece worth more as an object, an untouched surface is usually what a specialist wants to see.
Should I clean old coins before selling them?
No, and coins are where it matters most. Anyone who handles coins can tell one has been cleaned, the damage cannot be reversed, and cleaning removes the part of a coin's value that was never about its metal. Hold it by the edge and photograph it as it is.
What about a ring that is just dirty rather than tarnished?
Grime under a setting is not tarnish, and a soft dry brush usually shifts it. Keep water away from closed-back settings, foiled stones, opals and porous stones such as turquoise, and do not soak anything with a glued part.
Can I use a silver dip on a badly blackened tray?
There is no need before you sell. Tarnish does not change the metal or the weight, and a dip leaves a very reactive surface that tarnishes again quickly. On anything old or traceable to a maker, the original surface is part of what a specialist looks for. Photograph it as it is.
Will you clean my items when they arrive?
Not without asking you. Cleaning, degreasing or preparing a small area to read a worn mark alters a piece, so it needs your separate written consent, asked for item by item with a photograph of the spot. Anything you decline comes back as it arrived, apart from any test mark you agreed to in writing. The terms set this out in clauses 4.2 and 4.4.
A box of odds and ends?
Tip it out on a table and photograph the lot in one or two pictures. A person writes back with what looks worth posting. You do not need to sort anything first.
Nothing is sold until you say yes. Say no and everything comes back by tracked, signed-for post at our cost.
No WhatsApp? Call or text 07369 296063, 6am to 10pm, seven days a week.
What is not paid for
Stones, clasp springs and base-metal fittings are not paid for as metal. A stone that cannot be lifted out goes with the piece, and nothing is taken apart. If a piece may be worth more as a jewel, we tell you before any offer, so you can take it elsewhere.