A few questions about acid treated buffalo nickels

1. do you use nick-a-date (sorry if im misspelling it)? if so, how much is a reasonable price for dateless (non acid-treated) buffalos? i got 25 for four dollars

2. would you buy the scarcer buffalo nickels that are acid treated,mlike the 1918/17 or the 1913 S? i see the former sells for 170 to 200 plus on ebay, and the latter going for 40 plus at times.

3. do you know of any other applications for this acid product? have you used it with world coins, for example?

thanks!

 

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Yes, I use Nic-a-date. I'm not sure I would buy an acid treated Buffalo but if done correctly they can be nice space fillers on the hardest ones to get. Pricing is a whole different thing. Rarity is key for me. If the finished coin presents nicely I might be encouraged with something like the over date but only if all the other details were V.G. or better. Always in the back of my mind is someone disposing of the collection later on and getting a big boo from a dealer. I did recently treat a dateless coin with an S and it turned out to be a 1921S. Came out rather decent but not as well as I would have wanted. I also treated a Shield Nickel today that turned out to be an 1870. It will fill the space until I find a better one. I've never used on foreign coins yet though as I've had no need or coins needing it.

 

1) Don't dateless Buffaloes usually sell for 2-3x face?
2) If you need to fill your set, you fill your set, but realize that it's forever an impaired coin.
3) No idea. I've never acid dated a coin.

 

I purchased 200 coins from a dealer in R.I. shipped for $31.00. The 21S was in that lot. Along with a Type 2 1913S. I figure I did all right. There were a lot of other D's & S's in the lot also. I don't sell acid treated coins but I do trade them out on a site called Listia. Nice large photos and descriptions that mention they are restored dates. I then trade up for coins I need when I am able to find them. But if your asking if I'll sell that 1921S Buff. for 15 cents, no way Jose.

 

Not at all what I said, nor remotely implied. I said dateless Buffaloes typically sell for 2-3x face. I've seen them go for face, as well, but assuming OP was specifically looking to buy dateless ones, I think 2-3x face is about what the market is. You paid in that range ($10 face for $31 shipped), so I guess your post reinforced what I was saying?

 

No, I understood, just a little humor there followed by the winking smiley face. Yes, you are correct about the pricing.

 

From what I've seen, acid treated key date buffalos sell for a small fraction of the price for a problem free example, with a bigger discount than for other types of problems. However, even an 85% discount for your 13s Type 2 would pay for your entire lot. You definitely did well.

If a coin has no date I don't see any downside risk to putting some acid on it to see what happens...

 

Thanks. We are probably the few who think acid treating has no value or little value but I did not have either of these coins and they filled the holes for me. Steven Musil who regularly advertises in Numismatic News does quite well with problem coins, wish I could also, but for me it's saving a bit of history rather than tossing aside. And it can be fun when I find the more elusive dates/MM's. I usually try white vinegar first and if that does not work I have nothing to lose except for my time and a few dollars. Plus, I am retired so time is not an issue.

 

thanks for replies everyone. ive applied acid to buffalos on a few occasions. i personally wouldn't buy an acid treated coin, unless it was one of the key dates and at more than a 80 percent discount. For better dates but not semi-key, like ones 10-20 dollars in Good 4 grade, being treated with acid makes them worth less than a dollar from what im seeing. i even saw some lots of acid treated buffalos selling on ebay, most likely cherry picked so nothing of interest is left. 2-3 times face is a good deal for dateless nicks considering that one of the overdates or a 1913 s might be in there. id think overtime that dateless nicks will dissappear or at least diminish significantly but we'll see.

 

That's more a function of overall supply disappearing from circulation, since the dateless coins tend to be AG3 or FR2 anyway.

 

Once you've damaged the coin, it will forever be a damaged coin. No better than a hole filler.

However, these are at best very low grade and the date has worn off, so unless there are specific die characteristics (unlikely) allowing it to be dated w/o the acid, there doesn't seem to be much lost.

It's when somebody goes to try to sell this "gem" w/o recognizing the damage that gives me pause - discovering Gramps' "treasure" is a damaged coin with only a fraction of the guide price (and difficult for a dealer to sell at that).

 

i see. That would definitely be a tough conversation with somebody, especially if they just looked up retail prices for their coin in the red book or somewhere else. The dateless ones tend to be all very low grade, which makes sense. However, i saw a few with vg or f details but acid treated. i guess the date can wear off earlier as well, maybe like the standing lib quarters before 1925

 

I picked up around 200 for like 16 (turns out a good chunk of them still had dates). And I just acid date them for fun. I feel their worthless without the date so what's the harm? I keep any of the key dates and stuff. The rest I put in a box to give away to YN and kids. They don't care it's acid dated and I think a coin with a date means more to them anyways.

 

With the acid treated nickles you have a unique combo of a coin where the date tended to wear off AND mintrd from a copper-nickel alloy that is one of the few that responds to nic-a-date.

Does anyone here know WHY nic-a-date works? (I do)

If you are trying to build the next generation, you MUST give them an honest assessment of what you've given them. Not just a damaged coin without context.

 

1. Around 3X face sems to be the going rate, maybe a little more for mintmarked ones.

2. yes I would but I would prefer vinegar soaked ones where they do the whole coin. The ugly discolored blotch just at the date area that you typically see on nic- a- dated coins is very off putting. The vinegar soaked coins have a better color plus it brings back more of the worn away coin details as well.

3. The chemical is Ferric Chloride and it is also used for etching the traces on printed circuit boards. Probably cheaper to buy the etchant than buy nic-a-date.

 

And not too long on the vinegar soak as it too will eat away at the surfaces. I only mention this because I found out the hard way. Went away for three days and left them in the bath and they were ruined.

 

I use vinegar. But I find the times really vary on how long to leave them in.

 

okay, why does it work? My guess is it moves around the metal somehow. I dont know

 

When i have some dateless nicks, i usually have too many to drop in vinegar for varying times. nik-a-date is so much more convenient to use (ie the date usually appears within 10-20 seconds), but i agree it's quite ugly having that patch around the date afterwards. I try to use as little as possible

 

I usually put like 5-10 in a container with some vinegar and check it often. And once I can see the dates I pull that one out and leave the rest. It's kind of a cycle for me.