Don't toss your no-date Buffalos!

I just went through a pile of no-date Buffalo nickels and found a 1913 and a 1913-S (both type 1).

Goes to show, don't dismiss the nickel instantly just because it hasn't got a date! The mound on the back makes it worth every *nickel* of your time.

 

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Don't toss them anyway as dealers will give you a bit for them.
And if you use nickadate you can find some 18/7

 

I know I've seen some people post about having found a couple 1913-S Type II's from nic-a-dating. While it may be "damaged," I'll take a nic-a-dated 1913-S Type II over a dateless buffalo any day!

 

I spend them on occasion in the hope that it gets a new collector interested. Though I check them out pretty closely first to see if they are anything special.

 

How does nicadate work anyways?

 

I believe that when a coin is struck, the metal under the date changes in density (or some other property, I can't remember). Even if the date is completely gone, that difference below where the date was is still there. Nic-a-date is an acid that reacts more with the metal NOT under the date so the different density metal under the date is left over. This causes the date to show up. I'm sure there's a more technical explanation, but I think this is the rough gist of it.

 

Crazy stuff!
So would a nicadate coin be worth more or less than a no date?

 

Guess it depends on how bad you want it haha

 

Pretty much. I would value a Nic-a-dated key well over a no date, and even a really common one I'd personally prefer Nic-a-dated than a no date.

Edit: I'm referring to a coin with a small drop of the solution applied to just the date, not dipping the whole thing.

 

Personally I would never put that acid stuff on a beautiful Buffalo Nickel. All it does is render them worthless. jmo Why not sell them the way they are, surely the collectors who make Hobo Nickels will take them won't they?

 

I agree, I'll gladly take a Nic-a-dated key-date Buffalo over a dateless mystery Buffalo anyday

 

Meh, for collecting purposes, I'd pass on both a Nic-a-date'ed key and a dateless nickel. I'd much rather save up for a key with a readable date.

 

I like to buy all the dateless buffs I can at coin shops or shows and use Nic A Date on them for fun. As long as you don't pay too much over face, you can't stand to lose much. I had a dealer offer to sell me about 200 of them for about 8 cents each. I regret passing up on them to this day. I usually try to get the ones with mint marks on them. I haven't found any of the biggest key dates yet, but have several 14-D's and 21-S's, and most other dates in the book. I do it for fun. I am able to sell them for about 18-20 cents each after I am done, which shows people will pay a little more for readable dates, even if they are damaged.

 

I've got a bunch but , how can you possibly know what the date is on these coins ? To me they are 'dateless' and worth five cents, yes ?

 

This.

Dateless nickels are good for so-called "western" jewelry and hobo-nickels. Usually when I get one, I'll just spend it or give it to a kid.

 

I am a member of the Pasadena and Bellaire, TX Coin Clubs. We give no date buffalo nickels to kids (or is YNs the politicly correct term now) at our children's auctions. Some are really impressed when the date appears. It is a way for them to start an "old" coin collection at low price. I hope that we can start a few new collectors this way.
I filled most of my Buffalo Whitman folder when I was in elementary school several decades ago. I was an avid hole filler as a beginning coin collector.

 

So you would gladly destroy 100's to 1000's of coins to hopefully find something of value?

 

I give dateless or weak date buffs out to children at Halloween

 

Last year I pulled out my Whitman folders which I really haven't looked at for the last 50 years. Nicadate wasn't available then but some other type of acid was which I used to bring out the date and it worked fantastically and I filled in the holes of my folder. Now, 50 years later, if I didn't see the date under the coin in the folder I would not know what the date was. It seems that after 50 years the date again disappeared. Nicadate is probably only a temporary fix to bring out the date but in the end, it too will probably erase the date in time.