Upon Cleaning My Coins I found..... A Pink Nickel!

Is this worth, anything? I really, really hope so. I need the cash. I'm in Florida, if its worth something please PM or respond here.

Pictures:

 

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I'm no expert, but I'm fairly confident that it is just environmental damage or has been stained by some liquid.

Non-blurry, cropped photos might get a better response as well ;-)

 

no, spend it

 

It is definitely not a Mint Error..
Only worth 5 Cents..
Here is another thread -
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/1962d-pink-nickel.326333/

 

Oh, and not sure what you meant by "cleaning my coins" -- but if you do have anything valuable, cleaning it the wrong way will greatly decrease that value. So don't!

Welcome to CoinTalk!

 

Rust, environmental damage. It's a nickel.
Since that coin will never be worth more than 5 cents, you can take toothpaste
(any kind except gel) rub it on both sides between your fingers and then rinse and
dry with a paper towel. That stuff may, or may not come off.
Really rub it with your fingers once the toothpaste is on there.

 

Environmental damaged and it's worth five cents.

 

It's worth $50,000! You're rich!

 

it's worth whatever some one is willing to pay for it on a given day. Might check with the experts first but I received advise to do minor non abrasive cleaning of copper cents using pure acetone is fairly safe. Don't do it in the sunlight though. UV light may cause undesirable results. Heres some Q & A on the subject https://www.ngccoin.com/boards/topic/390682-acetone-on-nickels-bad-idea/

 

Lemon juice.

 

I've already soaked the nickel in lemon juice, it was silver when it went into the lemon juice. It turned copper/pink when I took it out.

 

I've done this and acetone and it will not come off, it's still copper/pink.

 

lemon juice is acidic ....good for copper though.. here's some tips https://www.bestcoin.com/Cleaning-Coins.htm

 

It’s just a regular nickel. I would move on from it and not worry about it.

Unless you are trying to learn what different cleaning methods do to the surface of coins. Then carry on.

 

From that linked page:

This is terrible advice. If there's dirt and grime on a coin's surface, the last thing you want to do is rub it across the surface! Dirt is often abrasive, and nearly always harder than the coin's surface, so this will leave scratches on the coin.

I don't think lemon juice is a good idea for copper, either. It is acidic, and while its weak acid may not directly attack the copper, it will attack the oxide layer that gives the coin its color. You'll end up with an unnaturally pink coin. And if there's any salt on the coin or in the lemon juice, it'll add chloride ions, and acid plus chloride plus oxygen (including from air) can attack copper metal.

Oh, and don't forget that even copper cents contain zinc in their alloy, and acids love to attack zinc. This can result in color changes, too.

Cleaning coins is easy to do wrong, and there's plenty of bad advice online and in print. Proceed with extreme caution.

 

Lemon juice (and salt) will clean copper jewelry.
But it will only damage a copper coin. And has damaged the nickel,
as now it has been etched by acid.
There is a debate that acetone is not safe for copper. Some say it is OK
and others say not to use it on copper.
The fact that you turned the nickel pink, means it is 100% damaged. But,
it was only worth a nickel before, and it's still worth a nickel.
Never use lemon juice on coins.

 

I think poster physics-fan3.14 (and you know who you are) might disagree with your generalizations...

 

I doubt it, but if he does, I'll certainly reconsider. Let's ask!

@physics-fan3.14 ?

 

Lemon juice is an acid. Acids should never be applied to coins. That is an absolutely terrible, awful piece of advice. It will etch the surface of a coin, strip the patina, and otherwise damage the coin. NEVER USE LEMON JUICE, OR ANY OTHER ACID, ON ANY COIN. EVER.

And applying vaseline with a q-tip and then wiping it off with a cloth to remove dirt.... insane. You'll scratch the hell out of your coin. Absolutely terrible idea.

If there is dirt on your coin, you should gently soak it in water or oil to loosen the dirt or grime, and then use a lightly flowing water source to rinse away the dirt as well as you can. After that, I would use an acetone bath to remove any foreign contaminants.

*ONCE THE DIRT IS GONE AND YOU ARE DISSOLVING ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS IN ACETONE*, applying a q-tip is safe. If you were only concerned about PVC contamination, acetone and a q-tip would be perfectly fine. The q-tip itself will not harm the coin. The acetone will not harm the coin. Dirt embedded in the crevices and then picked up by the q-tip or cloth will ABSOLUTELY DESTROY THE COIN.

@tammiGee ..... it seems like you have much to learn. It seems like you don't realize this and post like you are an experienced expert. You aren't, although you tried to appeal to my reputation. I appreciate posters in this thread summoning me to correct your errors.

 

Ancient silver coins can be an exception