Nickel Date Restoration

How do you know its a key if it does not have a date?

I say what do you have to lose? The coin sounds like a cull/slider anyway. Nic-a-date or vinegar will work on a Shield nickel the same as it does on a Buffalo nickel.

No...the date will not disappear once it appears. If you leave it in the vinegar too long the whole coin will start to darken, but a quick dip into jewelry cleaner will solve that problem. As I've said before, I'm not a "vinegar guy". I have only used vinegar a time or two on an experimental "look and see" basis. I use a bulk chemical that is very similar to Nic-a-date. (Industrial applications in etching circuit boards and municipal water treatment) I don't have the patience for vinegar. My chemical, OR Nic-a-date, will give you identical results provided that your preparation and timing is good - and it takes less than a minute.

PM sent.

Generally speaking, yes. But there's a little more to it than that. I have had nearly slick nickels with almost no remaining detail restore beautifully. On the other hand, I have had nickels that would qualify as VG-10, if not for the fact that they had no date, where I could not bring that date back at all. Not all planchet metal was the same in this series, even within the same year. 1921 is a great example. I defy anybody to get a good date restoration on a 1921-P, regardless of how much detail remains. The date on a 1921-S, on the other hand, will almost always come back strong, even if the coin is in horrble shape. (I cite the 1921 because this year is very easy to identify, even without a date) Sometimes it was the thickness of the planchet or the angle of the strike that determined, decades later, if a date would restore. If the planchet was a tad thicker where the date was stamped, or if the die mechanisms had some wear and did not strike the planchet perfectly flush, more pressure was applied at one edge of the planchet than at the other. If that happened to be the area where the date was, then that date might very well restore even on a coin that has lost 15% of it's original mass and all it's details through wear over time. If it was the other side that was thicker or received the strong-side strike, you might be scratching your head wondering why you can't bring the date back despite the rest of the coin looking like VG.