An Illustrated Guide to VINEGAR DATING!

Ever wondered how to effectively vinegar date a nickel? Let’s see.

First, a disclaimer. DO NOT ACID DATE IF THERE IS EVEN A PARTIAL DATE!!!!
A partial date coin will ALWAYS be worth more than an acid date coin. Only perform this trick if there is absolutely no way you can tell the date, and the coin is truly a slick. Even a bit of acid will immediately reduce the numismatic value of a coin by 90% or more. Common acid dated coins are sometimes worth less than slicks, so you may end up with a bunch of spenders. DO NOT DO THIS ON ANY VALUABLE COIN!

Now that’s out of the way, here’s what to do.

First, grab yourself a handful of slick Buffs. We all know that most P-mint Buffs are worthless regardless of year, so try getting some D’s and S’s in the hopes of getting a 1913-S TII or something.


Second, get some vinegar. I used apple cider vinegar but white vinegar works as well. I have had better success with apple cider, probably due to the citric acid that is present, but white WILL work if you don’t have any apple.


Pour your vinegar into a container or some kind, and then add hydrogen peroxide. Mixing the two will create a solution of peracetic acid, which I have found to be more effective than straight vinegar (acetic acid) in dating a coin. I don’t measure exactly, just pour *some* of each – maybe a bit more vinegar than peroxide, but I don’t think it matters too much.
EDIT: CAUTION. Peracetic vapors can cause respiratory issues if inhaled in large amounts. Please do not soak your coins in an enclosed space. If possible, keep everything outdoors to minimize your exposure to this chemical.

At first, the solution will look just like normal vinegar. However, once the nickels are added and some time has passed, it will change color. If you used apple, it will turn green. If you used white, it will turn a (beautiful) blue color.




When the nickels start to form bubbles, that means that it’s working! The acid eats away at the surface layers of the metal, revealing fun stuff underneath.


When you gaze into the bowl and find that you can sort of see a date, it’s probably done. It took me from 12:45 to 2:07, so around 1 hour 30 minutes usually does the trick.



Now, take your coins out of the solution, rinse with water (tap or distilled doesn’t really matter). This rinsing stage is important because failure to do so will yield some funky looking discoloration (think REALLY bad artificial toning). Rinse well with water, and then set aside to air dry.

Congratulations! You’ve now acid dated Buffalo nickels!

From my 6 coins I used in this example, I found:
1916-S x2
1917-D x2
1919-D
1925-S




So I didn’t get anything super valuable, although the 1917-D’s are fairly expensive as far as Buffalo nickels go.




This trick should work on anything made of nickel, including Shield, Liberty, 3 cent nickel, and Jefferson nickels.

In fact, I did an experiment to see how a highly polished Shield would fare. I don’t like the polished look, so I thought that the acid would eat away at that layer, leaving a nice and dull nickel.



Lo and behold, it worked!

In fact, I have find that slick Shield nickels often provide the most beautiful and impressive results. I don’t have an example to show, but trust me when you can have a completely slick Shield that has as much detail as a F or VF coin after an hour in vinegar.

 

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I really appreciate this. I have some dateless nickels stashed away somewhere. I'll try this sometime. I wish I could "save for later" with posts.

 

You can always pop me a PM if you have any questions!
It's fun to play this game. Drop just a bit over face value to play buffalo roulette! I've gotten a whole bunch of semi key dates over several hundred coins.

 

@Kentucky

Please correct me if wrong, but doesn't mixing peroxide and vinegar result in, well, "something" potentially hazardous?

 

absolute, the peracetic acid causes respiratory problems if inhaled in large amounts.
I will edit my original post with a health warning. thanks!

 

Actually, at these concentrations, nothing to be concerned about.

 

Your right it works great I just never knew when to take them out. I wish I could use it on a large cent

 

Wow.. I have not seen one of those Casio digital watches in years! how long have you had it?

 

Thanks for the write up! I tried acid dating buffs with just vinegar, a date started to appear but was too faint to discern. I'll try again with both vinegar and hydrogen peroxide

 

Very nice write up!

Just look at all the copper that came off those coins as copper sulfide (I think. Chemistry in collage was a long way back.) After all, the majority of the "nickel's composition is copper.

 

You can right click your mouse, copy, pull up your Word Documents and Paste to a new page give it a Title and save it that way...or you can use your print screen key (up top to the right of the F12 key) and do the same with your word documents just right click to paste where you want it and if it's too big minimize as needed to fit your page...play around with it a bit and you'll get what you want and have the stored info at your fingertips. Good luck

 

See... that's why I tagged you instead of just opening my mouth.

As always, much appreciated, sir....

 

thanks for clearing that up! I'll leave the warning in anyways, so nobody goes and starts huffing up the vapors

 

you can always try! I'm not sure if it will have any beneficial effect on a copper cent; it might just dissolve it even more and obliterate the date to nothing. I'm not sure though.

 

Haha, I got this in I think 2014 or so. It's a great watch!

 

You might also try apple vinegar this time. I've had slightly better results, I *think* because of the citric acid that isn't present in regular white vinegar. Then again, I never got above a C in college chemistry so...

 

Considering what seems all too common today, that's probably a very good idea....

 

Yes, don't infer from my post that it is a good thing to use with gallon containers in a closet sized space while suffering from asthma.

 

I've found that hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) works but I prefer nitric acid (by far the best). You also just apply via a tiny drop to the date area instead of soaking the whole coin.

 

I personally like dipping the whole coin because the drops leave a very obvious mark. Not that this isn't obvious, but the look tends to be a little more uniform (at least in my opinion).