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 Replies: 112 / Views: 14,617 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2602 Posts |
I was looking through some old silver I have and found a bust dime from 1821, holed that had something done over the date to restore it- the rest of the corn is badly worn, so it seems like it is possible for this to be done.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1291 Posts |
Okay...here's the latest. I picked out 4 quarters that I have NOT previously photographed or shown here. I applied a 5% concentration of nitic acid to each, waited for it to begin to bubble, washed it off, examined it thoroughly and repeated the process over and over until I did see something...and in each and every case I did eventually see something. I swear to you that my efforts produced a 1919, a 1920, a (probably) 1919-D and the following:    All 3 of these photos are identical with the exception of the size. Do you see what I see? The "2" in the date is pretty plain. I think you might also see the back side of the 9 in 19. It's also possible that's a 3 to the right of the 2. Here's the thing: I applied the acid pretty unevenly on this date. I had more of it concentrated in the middle of the date than on the ends. I'm pretty sure I can bring that last digit back pretty strongly but I wanted to show you what I had, right now, because this is the STRONGEST date (or digit) that I have achieved so far. (And please notice that this is a pretty well worn coin!) When I restore that last digit I run the risk of obliterating or weakening that 2. I'm not even going to bother showing you the other coins because, trust me, you will NOT be able to see the dates in my photos...that's how weak they are...or at least that's how weak they are right now. That's the crazy part about doing this...you never know if the date will get stronger or weaker with repeated applications/ I've had it go both ways. Maybe the 1919-P I restored (and there is NO DOUBT in my mind that's what it is) will get stronger if I give it a couple more applications...or maybe I'll lose it altogether. I am so tempted just to waste some $ and send it into ANACS right now and have them authenticate it just that I can conclusively say "it can be done!" More later! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
672 Posts |
Ok I know this sounds weird, but I am curious about it. Your black liberty may be good for this, suspend your SLQ in the nitric acid, like a dip, but when you make the acid, put some salt in it. Like table salt, my theory is that it will precipitate out the silver from solution (as silver chloride). It should be a white substance. It may help remove the silver more uniformly if it is constantly "falling" out of solution.
On a side note, I have been following this for awhile as you know and are going to talk to one of my metallurgy professors and get his opnion on it. I should be able to get back to you by monday about it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
Wheatguy: What makes you say that? I can almost guarantee you that last digit is going to be a 3.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
Mafia: I'm unclear on how to go about what you're suggesting. Let's assume I have 2 ounces of 5% nitric acid. How much salt do you want me to put into that? Should the salt dissolve if I mix it around or will it remain in crystal form?
Also...if I dip it, as you suggest, I'm going to have a hard time seeing what's happening. That scares me a bit. I've been "painting" the acid onto all these other coins (actually, while holding it in my hand!) which has allowed me to keep a close eye on what's going on.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
672 Posts |
weerdsteev,
Sorry I should of been more clear. I am suggesting you put some nitric acid into a shallow dish, the 5% is fine. Like a ketchup plastic cup from McDonald's will work fine. Fill it up about a quarter inch of nitric acid, and sprinkle a little table salt in it, you don't need much just a dash or two so it dissolves in the acid, there should be no table salt crystals visible. When you have this cup concoction ready hold the quarter between your fingers and dip the date part in the acid for a few seconds (or however long you leave it on). If you start to see white crystals falling out of solution (AgCl) my theroy is working. That being said they would be VERY SMALL because of the extremely small quantities of silver we are dealing with.
It is just an idea to try and accelerate the process and make it react more evenly.
AND....I just hit 250 posts! :)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1534 Posts |
Sorry, I had a double reply and tried to delete one of them, and it somehow deleted both. I mentioned that it seemed like the coin was post '25. Quote:
Wheatguy: What makes you say that? I can almost guarantee you that last digit is going to be a 3.
Kind of difficult to explain, it just doesn't have the pre-25 look to it. I may be wrong but the rivets on post-25's are different than pre-25 SLQ's, and yours just has the overall look of a post 25. There is a good probability I'm wrong, especially since you see a 3 there, and since I've rarely seen post-25 SLQ's with no date. Hopefully I am wrong and you've just discovered the secret to restoring dates on SLQ's.  |
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Valued Member
United States
313 Posts |
Went thru several more old Coin World's today no luck yet  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
In case anyone is wondering, I've basically thrown in the towel on this project. The nitric acid DOES work, and at one point I successfully restored the dates (or part of the dates) on 4 consecutive quarters, but the results are just not good enough to hold my interest any longer. Let's face it, the best you might hope to achieve is to bring the date back on a 1923-S or a 1921. (If you have a dateless 1916, hopefully you recognize it as such by it's unique set of diagnostics) None of the others really count if you consider that the restored date is bound to be super, super faint. Are you going to put a restored 1923-S or 1921 into you SLQ set if you need high magnification, bright light and a trained eye just to detect the date? What do you realistically think you could SELL such a coin for? $50? $100? And how many dateless specimens would you have to process (using a pretty scary chemical) just to find one or two of these premium dates? I guess I've been spoiled doing what I do with Buffalo nickels. I do a LOT of Buffalo nickels restorations, and with those I get a lot of instant gratification: Dates I can easily read, numerous keys, relatively safe chemicals and an available market for my final product. Dateless SLQ's don't seem to fit ANY of those criteria so my quest is officially at an end. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2602 Posts |
Sorry to hear that :( But thanks for trying and sharing!
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Valued Member
United States
408 Posts |
Thanks for all your work, time and interest. Neat thread.
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Valued Member
United States
450 Posts |
I too appreciated your efforts.
Maybe in the future a way will be found to make this worthwhile.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
672 Posts |
I'm sad this didn't work. Hopefully someone will come up with a "sliver bullet" soon :)
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2448 Posts |
Thanks for the information and effort.
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Valued Member
United States
285 Posts |
Thank you for your valiant effort! It would have been really neat if this had worked out.
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Replies: 112 / Views: 14,617 |
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Posted 09/04/2010 12:20 am
