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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;tbarreca, post: 727326, member: 21275&quot;]It helps to understand the physics and chemistry behind why the acid works on the nickel.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Because the background of the date is itself raised on the Buffalo nickel, the metal directly under the date digits has a higher density that the metal surrounding it after the minting process.&nbsp; When you treat it with acid, the chemical dissolves the metal of lesser density a bit more than it dissolves the higher density material directly under the date numerals.&nbsp; As a result, when you dissolve a thin layer of metal, the denser areas stand out a bit, and we end up being able to see the &quot;ghost date&quot; typical of such coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>On a penny, the date is not on a raised area, but is in the middle of an otherwise flat field.&nbsp; If you try the acid trick, there&#039;s not enough additional metal under the digits of the date to produce the same effect.</p><p><br /></p><p>Did that make sense?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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