Long Table 113. Conservation and Treatment of Ancient Silver Coinage

Associate Member Almoatz-bellah Elshahawi returns for this week’s Long Table on professional conservation and treatment of ancient coins. Like other metals, silver was also widely used in the production of ancient coins. Even though pure silver is classified as one of the noble metals that does not change when exposed to environmental conditions, this situation is different when silver is mixed with other metals, such as copper and other elements. In these cases, the silver alloy begins to corrode when exposed to the surrounding environment. Through this presentation, it will be explained how to treat ancient silver coins and preserve them from corrosion.