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 Replies: 162 / Views: 29,585 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
Plus the vinegar you don't use on the buffalos, you can cook with.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4132 Posts |
I just sniped a lot of 500 ugly Buffaloes at just 11.5¢ apiece (which includes shipping.) I can see from the pictures some have partial dates but there are also several that look like they have acid dates too. A lot of them look impaired or dug, which is fine for my purposes if I can obtain a date. According to the seller, some have mintmarks, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Great timing! My first lot of 107 dateless arrived today and I think they're gonna be better than I thought. There are type I from all three mints, some type II with mintmarks, and some with partial but clearly discernible dates. Sorting them out I have (including the freebie Type I that came with the Nic-A-Date):
11 Type I (all but one are completely smooth on the date):
1913 Type I x 6 (the top of 19 is just visible on one)
1913-D Type I x 2
1913-S Type I x 3
57 Type II smooth dates:
No mintmark x 35
Maybe mintmark x 14
D x 2
S x 2
Blob x 3
40 Type II partial dates:
No mintmark x 33 - one is ?14, the others are unclear or common dates
?20 poss. mintmark
?20 poss. mintmark
maybe ?20 poss. mintmark
maybe ?5 poss. mintmark
maybe ?25 poss. mintmark
maybe ?29 poss. mintmark
?17-S (pretty definitive)
?2? blob mintmark
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Check for 18/7 before you start playing with acid.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
687 Posts |
Don't acid date the partials though. Almost anything with the "F" and a part of the last digit can be identified. You can also ID the 1916 DDO without acid, the 1918/7 (sometimes) and usually the 1921s even if they are dateless. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Is there a reference for the diagnostics on the 18/17 and 21 on dateless? I've done the acid thing several of the completely blank ones already (not the Type I obviously), and curiosity just did kill one cat... 1916 two feathers; the date was completely smooth, so I don't know if I could have identified it and I didn't notice the two feathers after I did it. How big a goof was that one?  I have been checking for the '16 double die; that one should be easy to spot. I haven't touched any of the partial dates. Of the smooth ones I've treated, I've got all the teens from Philly, including a couple '13 type 2, 1916-D, 1919-D, 1919-S, 1925-S. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Here's some pictures of the two-feather. There's a really ugly partial date one for sale on ebay for $15 buy-it-now, and an acid restored one (rather nicely done, actually) for $11.95. Maybe I can get a few bucks for it, maybe I'll just keep it.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2602 Posts |
That is a 2 feather variety from die wear I believe, kind of like the 37D 3 legged, but for whatever reason the 2 feather varieties don't command as much demand- they are not extremely rare like the 16/16 DDO. This coin is NOT the 16/16. Many, many dates in the teans and early 20s, I think up to 1928 or 29 can have 2 feathers. So you would have had to restore the date to determine which year it was anyway. Provide an update for what dates you now have in the set and your total cost. Edited by mycrob
06/24/2011 11:56 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
I haven't sorted out the partials yet, other than the ones with mintmarks, and I'm working from memory, so this list isn't totally complete. I'll post another update this weekend. Collected so far:1913 Type 1 (freebie, dateless) 1913 Type 2 (lot 1, acid) 1913-D Type 1 (lot 1, dateless) 1913-S Type 1 (lot 1, dateless) 1914 (lot 1, partial) 1915 (lot 1, acid) 1916 (lot 1, acid) 1916 two-feather (lot 1, acid) 1916-D (lot 1, acid) 1917 (lot 1, acid) 1917-S (lot 1, partial) 1918 (lot 1, acid) 1919 (CRH, partial) 1919-D (lot 1, acid) 1919-S (lot 1, acid) 1920 (lot 1, partial) 1925-S (lot 1, acid) 1930 (CRH) 1936 (CRH) 28.1% completeSourced coins:Coin roll hunting (5 coins @ $0.25; 5¢ ea.) Type 1 included with Nic-A-Date (1 coin @ FREE) Lot 1 (107 no and partial date; from ebay @ $18.95 incl. shipping; 17.7¢ ea.) Lot 2 (500 no and partial date ugly; from ebay @ $57.75 incl. shipping; 11.6¢ ea.) Surplus:1936 x 2 (CRH) 1913 Type 1 (dateless) x 4 1913-D Type 1 (dateless) 1913-S Type 1 (dateless) x 2 ~10 1913-1919 acid date ~500 no and partial date Supplies (not counted toward total):Dansco 7112 Album ($21.95) 946 ML White Vinegar, 5% acidity ($1.19) Nic-A-Date ($7.49 incl. shipping) Total invested: $76.95 ($55.00 over budget)I'll need to be able to unload my surplus at about 11¢ each to stay under the challenge budget. Shouldn't be hard - dateless Buffalos seem to go for 15-30¢ ea. in bulk lots on ebay. This is a lot like coin roll hunting in that the end cost may be low, but you have to have a few hundred invested during the process. I get Buffalo and War Nickels at 5¢ each, but I have $100-$200 tied up at any given time that need to be taken to the bank. Now that I've got all the teens from Philly, I'll probably only use acid on those with mintmarks. I probably won't find many of the '20s and '30s in the completely dateless pile. I will probably wrangle a lot of the '20s from the partial date pile. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Alright, sorry no update on the partial dates, I've been busy. I've got most of the teens and 20s from Philly though. The second lot of dateless came in. The listing was right - these are ugly, but I like to think of them as diamonds in the rough. Yeah, there are a few really terrible nasty ones in there, and there's some acid dates, but most of them are just regular dateless and partial date buffs. Some even have pretty clear dates and there are lots with mintmarks. Some of them are actually quite nice nickels! Mostly they're just coated in grime. A gentle wash should take care of it. I am very happy with the lot for the price I paid. About 100-130 are so worn that it's not 100% clear if they have a mintmark or not at all. I pulled out one of the smoothest ones to see what I could get out of it. With some patience I was able to restore a D mintmark with the Nic-a-Date... Then I tried the date - it was kinda dodgy at first, but eventually it came out as a 1913-D Type 2! That's my first real key date. Not bad for 11.6¢! The date isn't super clear like with some of the less worn ones, but it's unambiguous when you tilt it in the light. As fuzzy as it is, there's no way it's any other date. For some reason it came out dark and green looking in the camera; to the eye the treated part looks lighter and sorta frosty.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3276 Posts |
wow, very original and very cool idea. I'm posting so I can see this thread often. I want to keep up with the results. good luck!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
880 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2602 Posts |
Way to go on the key date! For all the dateless buffalo naysayers, this coin went from worth 15 cents to $10 just like that (snap of the fingers).
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
I was looking through the latest lot some more this morning before work... There are some crummy coins in there, but there's a lot of pretty good ones too. There are some partial dates with mintmarks; some of them might be worth a few bucks as-is without treatment if I just take off the decades of sebum and dead skin they accumulated in circulation.
Probably the junkier ones I'll just use some soap and water, but I'm gonna pick up some acetone to see if I can de-crud them without invoking further damage.
I need to come up with a good sorting system because I've got a pretty good pile of coins now. I need piles for type 1 with and without mintmarks, piles for different partial dates, indecipherable partial dates that require more examination, dateless with and without mintmarks, a pile where I can't tell for sure if they have a mintmark (that pile produced the '13-D T2), a pile where the mintmark is an unclear blob, a pile for acid dates I don't need...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
Alright, I've got a partial date, and I think it's a 1914-D (  ), but I'd like some other eyes to verify it. Looking at the the little triangle that would be inside the 4, it also looks a lot like it could be a 1921. So I've posted what I'm pretty sure is a '21 to compare it to, and you can see the triangle does not match the '21. It also lacks the little lines coming out of the braid which are apparent even in the really horrible looking 21. Also, the position of the F (what's left of it) eliminates a '24 or a '34 as a possibility. So, am I right?     |
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Replies: 162 / Views: 29,585 |
First Page
Posted 06/23/2011 4:32 pm
