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 Replies: 26 / Views: 12,634 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1277 Posts |
Bought several rolls of Buffalos on ebay a few months ago. About half of them had partial dates. I was happy to see that many of the dateless ones had mintmarks. Here are the results of soaking one of those in vinegar for two months!   |
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Pillar of the Community
Korea, Republic Of
1881 Posts |
a 1913-D! Nice date restoration.
It's quite a nice feeling when you finally get to see the date during the process. Kind of like a decades-long secret being revealed.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
784 Posts |
You don't have a before pic do you? I'd love to see the starting point!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1277 Posts |
No, sorry. Absolutely no date whatsoever! And it took 2 weeks for me to even realize it was a '13
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Pillar of the Community
861 Posts |
If you add Hydrogen Peroxide to the vinegar, the restoration will take only 5-10 minutes. Also. if you freeze the vinegar and strain the ice, the restoration will also take 5-10 minutes.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1277 Posts |
I tried the freezing strategy and it took roughly the same time for me. Adding hydrogen peroxide was faster but ended up giving the coins a different look for me (more etching, less detail).
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Valued Member
United States
94 Posts |
I have apparently lived a sheltered life, because I have never heard of this method of restoring a date on a nickel before. Could someone tell me the kind of vinegar and the mix ratio with the hydrogen peroxide? I would like to try this. Thanks!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
Just regular 5% white vinegar. I tried the freezing strategy too. I read that acetic acid has a lower freezing point, so after about 30 min in the freezer I strained the ice out and used the ice portion. It was a lot of fun restoring the dates on 4 Buffalo nickels. |
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Pillar of the Community
861 Posts |
Use half vinegar and the other half Hydrogen Peroxide. Make sure the nickel is placed somewhat vertical in the solution. If you lay the nickel flat, the nickels copper residue will leave the coins surface brown and you don't want that. The solution will turn blue-green within 5 minutes. Important, this is a very powerful solution, it will not harm your fingers, but, if you leave the coin in for more than 10 minutes, your coin will have an acid etched appearance......in other words, set your alarm if you walk away from the solution.
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Valued Member
United States
469 Posts |
I had not heard of this method either. Will it work on dateless silver or just the nickel?
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Pillar of the Community
861 Posts |
Unfortunately, I don't believe any chemicals will work restoring dates on silver. The problem with silver coinage is that it is 90% silver and only 10% copper. Most of the copper is at the core, thus, any acid applied will not help restore any details. Your best bet on silver is to use black ink as it will help outline a date, as long as there is any sign of the raised date remaining.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
This is all about the concentration of copper being higher where the coin felt more pressure - I.E. around the details. Silver alloy doesn't have nearly as pronounced an effect.
To avoid the 'acid etched' look, you want the reaction to proceed as slowly as possible. So Id say you want just regular white vinegar (this is just dilute ethanoic acid). Even better, dilute it and leave it somewhere cool. You'd have to be patient.
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Valued Member
United States
258 Posts |
Great job at uncovering a 1913-D! I have heard of this method before for finding dates on dateless Buffaloes but wouldn't that be considered cleaning the coin? I mean you're altering the original surface...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
Yes, these are called 'restored' or 'acid' dates, and sell for much less than 'natural' dates. There is a market for the key 'restored' dates, but not so much for common dates. IMO it's a fun chemistry experiment, but some people do well selling restored key dates.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1277 Posts |
Yes, of course. It's far worse than just being cleaned, but before the restoration, it was just a dateless D mintmarked buffalo.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
624 Posts |
I would be interested in a before/after photo. I also wonder if soaking in acetone would produce similar results... anyone know?
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Replies: 26 / Views: 12,634 |
Posted 05/29/2014 7:53 pm
