I have a bunch of them I would like to just see what years I have I might have a key date or anything you never know.
I have at least five Buffalo nickels with no date showing so I feel your pain Bentley! I had no idea there was a product out there that could help reveal dates on nickels...good to know.
The only problem is, if @Bentley carpenter lives outside the United States, they won't ship to him from www.thecoinsupplystore. Perhaps other places might, I don't know because I always use the coin supply store for my supplies. They have the best prices.
You can also immerse them in a solution of Hydrogen Peroxide and White Vinegar, something most everyone has in their cupboard. I believe the ratio was 50/50 when I did it. I left six dateless buffalo's in the solution overnight and raised a date on four of them. The only drawback is that it leaves your nickels ghost white. I figured they are still worth a nickel though.
Or you can just use vinegar. A little slower, but a LOT cheaper. If you want to stay with faster but cheaper don't pay for that "name brand" tiny bottle and do a search for Ferric Chloride, used to etch PC boards. You can get a quart for about 70 cents an oz. that little bottle of Nic-a-Date is $2.50 or more per oz.
it's fun to find out I suppose, but dateless buffalo's are just that. a dateless coin. you can use nic-a-date or any other method, it's going to damage the surfaces of the coins, it's not going to help the value even if it's a key date, it's a dateless buffalo. the mintmarks are usually gone or mostly gone also. Chemically etching the coin isn't going to hep it's value any, regardless of what you uncover is all I'm saying. As it stands dateless buffalo's are worth 10-20 cents to people that want to use them in jewelry, or buttons, or for arts and crafts like hobo nickel carving.
No date, no way...unless you want to destroy the house to find the mouse...and what good is that...? Just my opinion.
Read the Nic-A-Date directions closely Bentley. A very small drop will expand quickly. It works very well, but you want the date only, good luck.
What's the value of a Buffalo coin without a date compared to the value of the coin that uses a chemical to bring out the date. I doubt there is very little difference.
Even if the chemical reveals a key date, your nickel will be worth five cents, because the original coin was unidentifiable by date and the treated coin has no collector value - catch 22
There used to be a seller on eBay that sold chemically etched Buffalo nickels for a small mark up just so some collectors could fill holes in their albums, but they will always be damaged coins. There are certain Buffalo nickels that you can tell the year by other indicators. Do some research and you'll find them. A dateless three-legged Buffalo is still worth a small premium to some. Good luck.
So my 1913-S Type 2 (I have six) and my 1918/17 are only worth 5 cents each? Ebay begs to differ. However, they're not going anywhere and it is so much fun to restore. the dates. Afterward I plunk 'em in Tarn-X to clean up the no-longer-collectible-for-most-people nickels. Just sayin'.
Depends on what date is revealed. Some of the key dates DO have a premium value even with a restored date. Yes it's not going to be anywhere close to what a non-details coin would be, but it's going to be a lot more than 5 cents.