There are products that you can buy that will restore the date of the buffalo nickles. But it wont change the price of the coins. By using one of these products you are damaging the coin. But it's fun to see what the date of the coin was and some collectors make sets of dateless buffalo's with the date restored. Lou
Not sure but I think it's called nickadate or nick-a-date or something like that. However, you would be spening money on something that is of no value and would make the coins of even less value than with no date. The stuff leaves a staining effect where the date used to be. My suggestion is to give them to some kids to start a coin collection. Or use in a coffee machine. Or put them up on ebay as a POSSIBLE VALUABLE COIN. Or send to me and I'll use as targets at a gun range.
Here's one http://www.usstatequarters.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=3111&IDCategory=123 It's just acid; sulphuric acid (battery acid), nitric acid or hydrochloric acid will do just fine. Also, some art stores sell hydroflouric acid as glass etching fluid. As for what to do with them, give them out as favors to kids, they'll love them and you might get some started as collectors.
I disagree. I've seen key-date, acid-dated buffaloes sell for significant premiums over dateless coins. I nic-a-dated some Liberty nickels a while back and found an 1886. I certainly won't be selling that for five cents.
I am pretty sure nic-a-date is not acid (ferric chloride?), but I cannot seem to find it now. I will repeat what I said earlier "IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH STRONG ACIDS- DO NOT USE IT". Sulfuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids can cause severe injuries and death. Hydrofluoric acid is way worse than the others. There are so many other acids that will work better and are relatively safe to use. There are several threads here about using vinegar. Users seemed quite happy with the results. Some drain cleaners use phosphoric acid which should be faster (even when diluted) than vinegar and much safer then the stronger acids.
Nic-a-date is ferric chloride. It is acidic and corrosive. It should be handled very carefully, with proper precautions. Here is a link to the MSDS: http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/f1060.htm
There should be a MSDS for nic-a-date. I was very surprised that I could not find one. Your MSDS is for solid ferric chloride so not all of it is applicable to nic-a-date, but I am not disagreeing with your basic statement. However, my point was that it is safer than the acids mentioned and I absolutely believe that to be the case.
It is absolutely safer than the other acids. People, including amateurs, use it all the time, and I've never heard of a major incident. If you follow the rules, it's perfectly safe: Just use one drop, rinse off as soon as you can see the date, and keep it out of your eyes, mouth, and other orifices.
\ Anything is possible but an 1886? If you really did then it would still be worth quite a lot but the amount of people finding coins like that are usually only stories. Burnt fingers, loss of clothing, loss of eyesight, friends and/or relatives injured from substances like that laying around is basically not worth the 1 in a billion coins that would be worth the time and effort. One splash from caustic solutions into the eyes would hardly ever pay for any coin found. We all hear about the few coins found this way that are valuable but not many report how they just spent money on nothing.
A nickel is made of copper and nickel. At the date and horn these areas are very small and narrow. When the Nic-A-Date is applied it actually dissolves some of the nickel metal resulting in the horn and date "reappearing". I don't own any of these, but on ebay there appears to be several people that are more "expert" at it than others. There are sellers that all they sell are these and probably make more profit than we think. Some of the key dates do sell for a significant premium price. Many people use these as "fillers" for coins they would otherwise not be able to afford.
I don't know what Nic-A-Date is made from but I do know that Ferric Chloride is a copper etchant. I've used it to make brass data plates for military trucks and antique radios. If it's a component of E-A-D then it attacks the copper component of the nickel.
