Restoring Dateless Buffalo Nickels (Methods)

I have had good results using a 3/1 mixture of vinegar & peroxide . You can use an eye dropper right on the date area until the date is visible .

I'm not interested in playing with chemicals so I use nic-o-Date (yes, I know it's a chemical).

Shelf life is forever as it still works 20 years after purchase.

The Nic-a-Date method works, and so does the vinegar and peroxide. Nic-a-Date is faster, but in my opinion/experience often leave dark or "stained" appearance. Vinegar is slower but in my opinion the "whitish" appearance is closer to the coins natural color.

Personally I prefer treating the entire coin and it keeps the final appearance more uniform rather than an obvious blotch in the date area. That can run up costs with Nic-a-Date though. Not really a problem with vinegar. Treating the whole coin also has the added benefit of restoring more of the details than just the date.

Nic-a-Date is Ferric Chloride. You can buy Ferric Chloride a lot cheaper than you can Nic-a-Date.

After experimenting with several methods over a couple of days, this is what works best for me. Note: I did not try Nic-A-Date.

Cover the coin with nail polish on both sides and along the rim. Only leave the small area where the date should be uncovered and exposed. Use a short shallow glass container or something similar. Use 50/50 mix of Peroxide and White Vinegar. Place the coin face up in the container with solution. Now pour some iodized salt over the date area. Within a few minutes you should see some bubbling and fizzing going on at the date area. Give it about 10 to 15 minutes. Not too long or it will etch away too much and turn a dark color. Experiment some on timeframe. You should have a good readable date. Wash off with water and let coin soak for awhile in isopropyl alcohol to loosen up nail polish for removal. It softens the nail polish and I use my finger nails to scrape it off. You may want to also use acetone to remove remaining nail polish.
The two images on the right have dates restored using this method. The image on the left is about dateless. I can see one number. (2)

Several Buffs can be identified without the dates:
1913 PDS Type 1 reverse
Obverse 4 (1921 P and S), because of the hair and ribbon knot changes
Obverse 5 (1923 P and S), because of the left ribbon design changes
Obverse 6 (1925 PDS), because of additional left ribbon changes
Obverse 8 (1931-S), because of the one-year change in left ribbon location and design.

the results vary quit a bit though. unacceptable to me. I'm still experimenting around. I'm back to trying the 3 to 1 ratio of Vinegar to Peroxide. Covering all of the coin with nail polish except for the date. After one hour there is a readable date with minimum acid etching damage. I'm going to try 2 hours then 3 then 4 and see what is best. The salt really speeds up the process to like 5 or 10 minutes but you can over etch very easily.

I am currently trying out the Teriyaki Sauce method I have seen mentioned in several forums. Supposed to work great (if you have the time) and not give the whiteish date look. So far 36 hours and no date yet. This is a very slow process and may take several days or, who knows. We'll see. Not really worth fooling with since there are better options.

So far I have had good results with: 3 TBSP Vinegar, 1 TBSP Peroxide, I TSP Soy Sauce. Get a readable date on a completely slick dateless surface in 30 to 60 minutes. This is the way to go in my opinion.

Would like to find the 1913D Type 2, 1913S Type 2, 1914D, 1915S, 1921S to fill a few holes in my Coin Albums.