Don't toss your no-date Buffalos!

It seems like it would then be considered "damaged", and the TPGs would not grade, or would grade Details.
So yes, it would hurt the grade and therefore the value. But like some earlier replies, if you need a hole filled but don't have the cash or don't want to pay - who cares?

 

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but it will affect the value of the set later on.

 

Definitely.

 

http://www.pcgs.com/News/pcgs-morgan-dollar-assay-medals-at-ana
and
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/alltimeset.aspx?s=82663

 

Go to a hardware store and buy muriatic acid.

 

Seems like I tried muriatic acid and it didn't work for me. Maybe I'll give it another try.

 

How long did you leave it in the vinegar?

 

"I use nick a date works rather well and I do have some great dates that were certified and am grateful I saved them as I have made a few bucks to reinvest and the collectors are well aware of the acid I used been doing it a great many years."

By certified do you mean they were graded?
Many on this forum get upset when coins are cleaned I don't understand how this nick a date is acceptable when cleaning coins is not acceptable.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure what they mean by certified. Nic-a-date damages a coin, but it's a personal preference over whether you'd prefer a dateless coin or a coin that was damaged to bring up a date. If you found a 1913-S Type II by means of Nic-a-date I guess you could send it off to get it details graded, but I don't think it would be worth grading it personally.

 

Many years ago as a teenager I was getting buffs in circulation, many undated. Someone at the Baton Rouge Coin Club mentioned using vinegar. Soaking three or four in a saucer with vinegar would generally bring up the date after 2, 3 many 4 days. Occasionally a date would never come up. Sometimes the vinegar would dry up and leave crystals and just "reloaded" with more vinegar. Sometimes the date was there when wet but would disappear when dry. So, it wasn't always a perfect solution to the problem of undated coins (no pun intended). - I guess at the time I knew it was altering the coin, which wasn't good, but it was the lesser of two evils, an undated buff or a coin that would fill the hole in my blue Whitman folder. I didn't soak the 1913 coins that I could detect with the raised mound on reverse. My first exposure to die types.

 

Did it actually change the appearance of the coin?
Did it change the coin's luster?

 

I wonder why this works...I mean when the coin is struck, the date is a recess in the die and the metal expands into the recess, compressed from the area around it. If the metal of the date is more porous than the surrounding material, would it be more susceptible to the acid...or, if using Nic-A-Date would it soak up the chemical better and just discolor?

 

Nope

The metal of the date has to flow more and becomes hardened due to tbe tremendous hest/pressure of the strinking process. That continues into the coin and so when it's worn down, the marginally softer metal disolves first, revealing the date

 

Never tried HCl either but I don't know where a normal consumer can get nitric acid (which is the best for this) or other mineral acids.

 

I didn't see the guy attempt to read the date with a magnifying glass before he put the coins in the vinegar solution. Maybe I missed him doing that.

 

I have one with the buffalo has a mound, e mark, and dateless. Is it worth anything

 

At G-4, PCGS has:
1913 T1: $14
1913-D T1: $18
1913-S T1: $50

Slash at least 75% of that value for dateless.

And there is no such thing as a E mint mark.

 

if I don't see a date I acid them and don't care about the value as its my collection and I have found some nice ones that are worth something besides a nickel

 

I’ve bought dateless buffalos from my LCS that were really weak dates for $0.15. One of the coins was a 1921-S.