Q. Does silver corrode?

[Element47]

I have had some silver bullion buried for a few years and wanted to move it recently. Unfortunately I have found I did not protect it well enough and it has tarnished a lot. I have been getting some advice and someone said its nothing to worry about you can turn tarnish back into shiny silver by a process in water with tinfoil. I was also told by someone that silver (unlike gold) forms a protective layer called tarnish, but this can be turned back into silver without affecting the weight. Is this true BrotherJohnF?

Someone else said that over time the tarnish does turn into corrosion and eat away at the silver I.E. reduce the weight and mass. Eventually (100's of years) if its not protected correctly the silver is corroded away to nothing like other metals.

Got me thinking there was a story of a find in a secret bunker in Russia somewhere where someone protected their silver very well in vinegar wrappings and they stayed untarnished for a long time.

But the big picture thinking about thousands of years of human history. There are sometimes gold hoards found that have been preserved throughout the millenniums because gold does not corrode. So the amount of gold in the world is not really going down. Is this part of the reason why 95% of silver is no longer with us (as well as because of consumption) and 95% of gold is still with us?

So here is my 2 part question, is the silver that was around say 6000 years ago still with us? Or has it all been corroded away over time?

Also what is the best way to protect a few small stashes of a few thousand ounces of silver buried here and there?