The before picture can be found here: http://www.cointalk.org/thread6233-what-to-do-with-this-buffalo-nickel-its-growing-something.html And here's the after I used the works... a type of clr. First soak, I forgot about it and it dried into a crystalline scale, which discolored the coin (the yellow). I picked what I could off, then resoaked it for 2 more days. Just spent 10 more minutes and here's what I have. A little of the crud is left, but I think I've wasted enough time on this poor thing. The works seems to have eaten the nice patina off, as well as ate some of the details. It got rid of most of the crud though. I'm going to soak it in some distilled water, see if it comes back at all.
I woudl think you could still get more than a nickel out of it....It just depends on if you can find some one who needs it. Speedy
Here is another update on this thing, for those that remember it... and especially what it looked like to begin with. Perhaps someone might find this interesting or useful. After I posted the above scans, I threw it in distilled water for 4 weeks or so. The distilled water turned the obverse brown for some reason, but also loosened up more of the encrustation. The DW was changed every couple days. I scraped what I could with a diamond dusted dental pick, and set it aside to work more on it. To my dismay, the encrustation started growing again. I treated it for Bronze Disease, which is common with ancient Romans, and is like rust on steel, but attacks bronze. The new encrustation was soft and green, so I figured it was something like BD, even if it wasn't exactly BD. For those not familiar with BD methods, I boiled it for 10 minutes in a solution of 2 cups distilled water and three tablespoons of a 3:2 ratio of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. (washing soda and baking soda) I then let it sit for 2 days. This stopped the growth, but was still encrusted. I gave up on working on the coin and threw it in Biox for 8 hours. Biox is a chemical made by the makers of Renwax, which attacks and eats anything not metal. It is more suited for tools or such than coins, but I had wasted enough time with this nickel. Biox ate the rest of the encrustation off... and turned the coin more or less silver colored. I hit it with a medium goat's hair dremel wheel to clean off the residue and remnants of the encrustation. I then applied two coats of Renwax, polished with a soft nylon cup. Here's how it turned out... I think most people will agree it looks quite a bit better than what it did originally. It doesn't quite have the nickel color to it, but it's alot better than green and red encrustation. Hopefully this information might prove useful to someone.
Good job jengebretson, the next time we hear from you I expect to hear that you have gone to work for one of the top three 3PG's and that ANA has offeredt to sponsor you at a workshop this summer in Colorado Springs. Boy, if you could do that with what you started with, just think what you could do with just a dirty coin.
Thanks for the complements. Sadly, in the Roman collecting circle, I'm seen as a herectic by many for my experimentation and some of the non-accepted techniques I apply. Many people only use: 1) Distilled Water 2) Olive Oil 3) Toothbrush 4) Soap To them, I'm a monster. I'm happy with most of my results, and I think that's what matters. I have also tried similar techniques to an 1867 shield nickel that my mother received in change last year. It was encrusted with a green growth on the shield side, totally covering the shield and most of the legend. The five cent side had a brown encrustation that covered most of the 5 and the stars. No matter what I did, the coin had a swirly brown finish to it, so in addition to the above methods, I applied Jax, a black-brown repatination chemical before applying Renwax. (I should also note that the coin, as was the buffalo, was soaked in 91% rubbing alcohol for 15 minutes to help remove moisture from the coin and prevent further growth before waxing). The coin came out with a reddish brown "patina"... similar to finding a similar aged coin with a metal detector. I have had decent success it seems with the above techniques for nickels. Silver coins shouldn't have these problems... and techniques are totally different for handling silver. Copper coins would be similar, but the biox will leave the coin an odd pink. It's just hideous. Repatination with a chemical such as Jax or Dellar's would be about mandatory. I have heard reverse electrolysis works as well, but haven't tried it. Hopefully this information might be useful to someone, and if anyone ones some extra information, please feel free to message/email me. -Joe
