If your going to say that acid restoration ruins the coin, move along to another thread. I am asking HOW to restore the date. I figured I would try nitric acid on a coin. Vinegar on another. Any suggestions? Has anyone ever done this.
I use electrolysis, get an old charger, cut the connector of on the end, split the wires into two, wire up two pos and neg crocodile clips up...put a spoon on the neg and the coin on the pos put some warm water, salt and maybe lemon juice in a plastic tub, turn the charger on and put the crocodile clips with the spoon and the coin attached into the water and your coin will be clean within minutes! If you don't feel like making one, let me know and I'll sell you one
dont think he's trying to clean it. he is trying to bring the date out. All i know is a dealer near by sells a bottle of stuff that brings it out.
To the best of my knowledge the stuff the dealer sells will only bring out the dates on nickels and doesn't work on silver. I once discussed this with my sister, who was a chemist with Dupont-Merc and the only product she came up with that was effective on silver was also SUPER dangerous. I can't remember what it was but i know it was nasty stuff. Richard
Send it to China and let them have it for a few minutes, bro....in two weeks the market will be flooded with examples that might even say "copy" on them..
As I recall, Nic-a-date is primarily Ferric chloride which is a copper etching agent. I used to use it i making printed circuit boards. It doesn't remove nickel from the coin, but since copper is 75% of the coin, it has the effect it does. Now you might ask, how can it make the date re-appear if the whole surface of the coin is the same composition? The explanation is that when the planchet is struck, the pressure causes differential "work hardening" between the date and the field, and this difference allows a difference in the etching depth. Now as to silver, the coin is 90% silver generally, and the work hardening effects on striking silver doesn't seem to be as differential, so something that dissolves silver would have to have good resolution in distinguishing the difference in the date as compared to the fields. I suspect a cyanide solution may be what Ziggy's sister is thinking of, as I have head of people using a dip solution to no effect. Many have tried this, but I have never heard of enough success, and 1916 AG dimes and unknown date "D" mint merc dimes have initiated many attempts to find a 1916-D.
I once sold a few dateless Standing Liberty quarters to a guy [maybe on Coin Talk]. He soaked them in vinegar for days and told me that on two of the quarters the dates appeared. I never tried it. I did try nic-a-date on an old silver Canadian 5 cent piece and a very worn Canadian quarter. When the coins were still wet with the substance a very faint date appeared. After a water rinse and drying the date went away again.
The vinegar seems to be working Somewhat. I have tried a variety of dateless silver largely standing libs with some mercs, barbers, Morgans and walkers thrown in as well. The Morgans have the CC mintmark but no date. As for the standing libs I wouldn't mind some dates.
Since this method does not require acid, I feel that it is a viable choice to reveal the date on a dateless silver coin. Drop the coin off off at the CERN Super Collider over there in Geneva so the scientists there can utilize the Large Hadron Collider to bombard the date area with anti-matter. This process will evaporate away the lesser compacted atoms at the surface, revealing the work hardened date. The only problem I can foresee with this method is that your coin might end up in another dimension. Happy Collecting
The key is not to dry the coin or wash it. Just let it dry on a paper towline or foil. I did get two dates on the standing libs. 1917 type 1. 1924 S
Many years ago there was apparently a product sold to restore dates on silver coins. It's been discussed on here before. Maybe someone can add a link.
Just think of it like a blank tile in Scrabble. No value on its own, but it can take the place of any letter you like.
I did end up nic a dating it. left it on the coin for about 30 min, and the date appeared. I'm guessing the fact that it was Canadian dime with silver content of only 0.8 made it easier.
The first CC Morgan I ever bought as a kid had a completely worn flat obverse and a much less worn reverse. Someone before me treated it to bring the date out. So it is possible somehow.
