Restoring Dates On Buffalo Nickels

Once you hit a Buffalo nickel with chemicals, it becomes a cull. Culls are worth 5-10 cents, UNLESS the coin happens to be an early date teen with a mint mark. How much is an original, dateless Buffalo nickel worth? Maybe 15-25 cents? So I'd only restore dates to truly dateless coins that have a mint mark on the reverse. Some restorers actually do mess with the Philly coins, hoping to find the rare 14/13 or 16/16.

IMHO, a dateless buffalo is worth no more than a restored one with a common date. But restoring a dateless coin to reveal a key date would make it worth more than it was when it was dateless. Of course, it would not be worth as much as an untouched example.

I have seen rough estimate valuations of 10-30% of a dated coin. Of course, that would only apply to the noncommon coins. My local shops buys no dates for 10 cents(mint mark irrelevant) and sells them for 20 cents I believe. A common date Buffalo that has been Nic-a-dated is pretty much just a novelty, I couldn't see any Philly being worth more than 25 cents or so. Nic-a-dated early mint marks can be cost effective space fillers but eye appeal will make all the difference for value- if it is ugly then closer to 10%, if it just has honest wear and the date was done well, then closer to 30%.

I've seen them at coin shows and they just sit there. No one will buy them. At least no one that collects coins. If it turned out to be a rare one, possibly might be worth a little but worth a little and trying to sell one is two different things.