What do I do with a Canadian $5 silver coin?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a Canadian $5 silver (.9999) coin. It’s sealed in its original pouch with “RMC” and “MRC” and a crest embossed at the top. The coin is rather tarnished. Which should do?
[ul][li]Keep it in the sealed pouch and leave it tarnished; or,[/li][li]Cut open the pouch and clean it up?[/ul][/li]Not that I take them out to look at them, or display them or anything; I just have a few coins laying around.

2

If the coin is tarnished, are you sure the pouch is actually sealed?

3

Apparently not hermetically sealed; but sealed in that there is no way to get the coin out without cutting the plastic.
I thought of another option. I can remove the coin from its pouch and find a nice hiding place out in the ocean, then have people look for it. Or maybe I can get a few coins and sink them in a little box, and then offer a “treasure map” (GPS coordinates) on eBay. (I won’t, of course; but it’s fun to think about.)

4

I asked a question about cleaning silver last year. Here is what I was told.

5

Tarnish happens. Cut it out and dip it in a liquid silver cleaner. Rinse in fresh water. Pat dry. None the worse for wear.
Value is the same.

6

Don’t eat it.

GES

7

This site says, among other things, that any kind of cleaning could potentially downgrade the value of the coin.
Don’t clean it.

8

It looks from Khadaji’s site that it’s okay to clean coins, as long as no abrasives are used and as long as you don’t rub the coins.

I’m not a collector, so I don’t know how much this particular coin is worth. I’m guessing whatever the going rate for silver is, plus some sort of premium because it’s a coin. I also have a 2001 Canadian $5 coin. I don’t remember what I paid for either of them. Dad liked coins, and he had a small collection. He also had some 1oz. ingots and rounds. Aside from his coins, the only other neat coin I have is a 1983 Canadian $50 gold piece.

You know, I think I’ve decided that since I’m not displaying any of this suff, I should just leave the coin sealed in its pouch.

Although… It would be fun, some day, to get about $50 worth of silver and do the sunken treasure thing.