PSA: Vinegar dating is the best

Yeah, sniffing chemicals isn't something to recommend.

 

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I'll give this a shot, I got a few dateless buffalos id like to find out the date of, maybe start a buffalo nickel folder

 

Correct. While I haven't used it on silver I ALWAYS put a splash of hydrogen peroxide in with the vinegar the few times I've dated buffs for the fun of it. It acts as a catalyst and in an hour or two voila.

 

Well it does NOT work for silver. Bummer.

 

or do, even.

 

Anyone have a more detailed "step by step" so we don't get people randomly throwing chemicals together without a plan?

I've got dozens of dateless buffalos that I've had put away for a nic-a-date party at some point. I'd be more apt to try something with stuff I have in the house - if I have a safe plan.

Thanks!

 

White vinegar and patience.

I wouldn't use acid and peroxide unless the Buffalos were evidence I was trying to get rid of. If I want to be careful that a reaction doesn't go too far, the last thing I want to do is speed it up.

I found that a day or two of soaking produced good results. I'd check on it every few hours, on just one or two coins, to get a feel for it.

 

Ok you all gave me an idea.

I put some Buffalo's in a vinegar bath and set the Dino-Lite to take time lapse video... I'll post the results tomorrow.

I have before photos and will take after photos to compare side by side.

 

I would love to see this...I have one going with vinegar and am not really seeing much. It's like pulling teeth to get me to take and post photos...

 

I remembered vinegar from somewhere and tried it a week or so ago. I just dropped a little over the date area. I gave it 5 minutes, maybe 10 tops. Didn't see any improvement so I rinsed it off and used nic-a-date. Now that I read some responses in here, i see 10 mins is not enough. Is bathing the entire coins for hours (days?) really necessary? Or can you just apply a drop or two every now and then?

 

I would use apple cider vinegar, it seems to give better results.

Peroxide is relatively safe to use, but you've got to be careful about not overdoing it. I've accidentally dissolved nickels to oblivion by leaving them in too long.

Putting peroxide basically just makes the whole thing go quicker, but gives the same end results.

 

I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more results. Id rather play it safe getting the dates to show and not rush it

 

Here's an example of a 1919-D, dated via apple cider and peroxide. This was left in for somewhere around 1 hour, I wasn't too scientific in the time - I tossed the coin in, played a couple missions of GTA IV, and took it out when I had a lull in gameplay.

As you can see, it leaves a more gentle looking result than harsh nicadating.

However, you can see a couple of "stained" spots - this results from improper rinsing and drying of the coin after its vinegar bath.
To avoid this, there are two options:
1. Rinse very well in water immediately after vinegar bath.
2. If there is still a stain, then you can put it back into the bath for just a couple of minutes, and the stain will come right out.

 

For comparison, this is what happens when someone applies a liberal amount of nicadate...

 

The date is illegible to me, maybe barely legible. It could be a 1913, 18, 16, 19, I don't know. Sometimes nic-a-date provides an ambiguous result as well, other times it's very clear. Are your results always like that? Or are some more clear? Just curious

 

I wonder if an hour of vinegar and peroxide (equal parts?) on a smaller area around the date would be better. The example you showed looked dipped in something, like it was too clean looking on large areas of the coin. I agree though that the nic-a-date is pretty harsh looking

 

I agree that the dates are really hard to decipher, and it's worse on a computer screen. But with angling it around in the light, I can always definitely tell the date. Results don't really get much better than that. I've never gotten a really good pop-out date, unfortunately.

I've considered that, but I'm afraid that doing so will end up in the date exhibiting an uneven patina, which I think would not look as nice (the 1918-D shows a nasty looking splotch around the date where a spot-treatment was applied.

In my opinion, I think that with these roached coins, it comes down to prettiness. I find that treating the entire surface leads to an even and decent looking, albeit obviously altered look. To me this looks a bit better than altering just a small spot around the date which can often lead to a really splotchy and ugly look.

 

This 1914 was treated with something much harsher than vinegar and peroxide. I'd like to think this was a diluted nicadate solution or something like that.

The date pops out much more and is quite a bit more immediately legible, but the whole surface of the coin has a different look than the blast-white vinegar look. I personally don't find it as attractive, but if you do, then a diluted nicadate may be the way to go!

I personally don't have any nicadate so I can't really try this method.
Any takers want to sacrifice a Buff to further the field of numismatics?

 

Just put the most beat up dateless buffalo I own and placed it in apple cider vinegar, I've done some more research on this forum and others, and many people say it takes a couple of weeks for the date to show, if it does at all. I'll post after pics when I take it out, heres what it looks like now

 

@hotwheelsearl , you said if the coin is stained put it back in vinegar for a couple minutes, when you take it out the 2nd time do you rinse again or no?