Is it possible to remove solder from a silver coin without causing severe damage to the coin?

Comments

• jmlanzaf Posts: 40,849 ✭✭✭✭✭

  June 1, 2026 6:23AM

  It can be removed, but the damage is likely already done. The solder is probably fused with the surface.

  You can try with low heat and see if you can remove it.

  All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

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• Old_Collector Posts: 933 ✭✭✭✭✭

  June 1, 2026 6:52AM

  @TennesseeDave said:
  There was a scarce coin that recently sold on eBay that had been made into a jewelry piece or pin and had solder on the obverse surface. Does anyone know if the solder could be safely removed without severely damaging the coin?
  Here is a link to the eBay coin.
  https://ebay.com/itm/358592069426

  I expected it to be on the reverse, the solder is all over the obverse, I would pass on that one.

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• CaptHenway Posts: 33,778 ✭✭✭✭✭

  June 1, 2026 7:02AM

  I don't know about silver solder.

  I do know that when I was at ANACS we got in a High Relief $20 with gold solder in the left and right obverse fields, apparently where a pin had been attached so somebody could wear the coin with the eagle outwards. We certified it as genuine, solder in fields.

  Six months later it came back in the original photo certificate and a letter from the owner saying that he had had the solder removed, and would we please re-certify it with a new picture and without any mention of the solder. I could tell that it was the same coin from various markings, but even with the original certificate as a guide I could not see ANY trace that it had ever been soldered. Period.

  Numismatist. 54 year member ANA. Former ANA Senior Authenticator. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and ANA Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Also won the PNG's Robert Friedberg Award for "The Enigmatic Lincoln Cents of 1922," Available now from Whitman or Amazon.

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• fathom Posts: 2,092 ✭✭✭✭✭

  June 1, 2026 7:38AM

  Desoldering sucker. But @jmlanzaf is probably correct, it eats into the surface. Never tried it.

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• seanq Posts: 8,815 ✭✭✭✭✭

  June 1, 2026 8:28AM

  I brought a small gold coin with solder to a local jeweler to ask about having it removed. He said that because the soldering material was also gold, he could not safely remove it. Had the solder been lead, he said it could be removed as the melting points differed.

  So I guess the short answer is "maybe, depending on the material."

  Sean Reynolds

  Incomplete planchets wanted, especially Lincoln Cents & type coins.
  
  "Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor

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