1918-S Buffalo nickel find

I just pulled this out of circulation! Is this a candidate for conservation, or is it going to be stuck the way it is?

Sorry for the poor photo, I was a little jittery with excitement.

@ToughCOINS @Insider @GDJMSP @Collecting Nut @lordmarcovan @ldhair @paddyman98 @Jack D. Young

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

That has to be the coolest circulation find of the decade.

 

Thank you! In Europe no less. I’m pretty stoked!

 

I have to agree unless someone comes up with a challenge. The condition is awesome for this coin. We never found them that nice back in the early 50's when they were still very plentiful.

 

Very nice find, lucky you, congrats.

 

Quick check of PCGS Photograde, it appears to be approx. AU53-55, $390-510 value for respective grade at NM/FMV…so, yes, eminently qualified for conservation. If you are careful and know what you’re doing you can do some of that yourself.

So you got it from circulation while in Europe? It’s okay to kiss and tell…tell us the story! Lovely snag, btw…imo…Spark

 

Beyond doing a boiling distilled water wash and acetone rinse, I wouldn't touch that pretty thing...

 

Yeah! I am with Spark on this one. I too wanna here the dirty details.

 

Terrific find!!!

 

It will clean up fine. Something is bothering me about the coin. It may be just a case of not having a sharp image.

 

I love clear ammonia for cleaning nickel or copper nickel and use it routinely...But soap and warm water with tamp dry to start with will be very safe.

 

Brandon, nice find...there's one ddo known for the date. Your images makes it impossible to make any call on that variety. Check doubling on USOA as well the" dots " However thw 1918 s buffalo is typically found from weak to full or sharp strikes. However do exhibit flat details on the bison or center .
From your images that are readable you can definitely see a strong sharp strike.. the major evidence is the buffalos eye on the obv. Seen plain as day behinde the long feather. There clashes that also can be seen under the nose, as well chin. The die crack running from the rim at 2k under the I down the nose and to the rim again from the lips. I find very typical on hammered buffalo specimens.
However rim damage imho will detail the coin. There's one other red flag with the 18 s and thats coins that have gold to brown toning....artificial used to conceal evidence of friction and wear....as well cleaning.
Unfortunately as others have remarked about the coins looks...its been cleaned and retoned ...imho

Acetone, soak and a soft pick... will do wonders to remove most of the crud.the carbon spots are there to stay .but this will provide a nice xf + album coin. Which would be a pricy hole to fill even in a nice vf. Specimen.





Wanted to show you this a friend pulled from a estate sale .

Didn't you collect these?

 

For starters, I took new photos of the coin. The spot that has me most concerned is the green stuff below the N in UNITED. To me, the coin is much more the color of an old Buffalo nickel. I did not get the color right in the photos. Up close, I see no indication of cleaning.

I personally have it at XF40, possibly details grade for environmental damage. But I’m always conservative in my grading (so I think).

So my secret is I deal in FOREX in bulk lots and I search my coins before depositing them. These photos represent going through about 1,800 coins. I have 15,000 nickels. These batches might just have been the “good ones,” but they’ve been pretty darn good so far. Up top left, I found a Liberty nickel. To its right is a 1913-D T2, partial date. The 6 top nickels are war nickels, and the stacks on the right are all 1938-1954, no silver.

You put coins in boiling water I don’t know if I could do that!

Haha, now you’ve heard them.

Thank you! Very blessed.

Do the new images help? I intend to have this professionally done. Might send it to ICG

I’m quite glad you chimed in. I forgot to tag you you do quite well with your conservation efforts.

I will need to spend more time with the coin, but likely won’t have time until I roll all the coins I have on hand. That’s going to be a bit. In my opinion, the coin hasn’t been cleaned, it’s just poor imagery.

I do collect German states coinage! But I blew my budget on some nice error coins and two India Princely States coins.

Thank you for the sound advice. With the spots below the N in UNITED, I do not feel comfortable working on this coin myself. My comfort stops at pure acetone and distilled water.

I think the better photos highlight the spot below the N in UNITED that has me worried. Aside from that, I love the coin at XF. I plan to leave this to professionals.

 

Better images. Coin looks Ok and most of the dark spots look like dirt that will come off easily.

 

They only scream for a little while Seriously, I can't really think why coins would be hurt by boiling water. I mean I wouldn't boil them for hours, but a couple of minutes would remove soluble materials. BTW, for a single coin, you can put it in a glass or cup with the water and microwave it...two or more coins will spark!

 

Once again, I want to try putting a coin into a Soxhlet extractor and just let it get washed by near-boiling freshly-distilled water again and again and again...