I recently saw a video explaining how to find the dates of buffalo nickels. The person dipped the coins in a vinegar/3% hydrogen peroxide mixture and set the coins in for an hour. I know that the only way you should really clean copper or silver coins is to not clean it or send it to a professional, but I know nothing about nickels. I know Buffalo Nickels contain a lot of copper, but does this method ruin the nickels?
It does ruin the nickel. I did this with other acids years ago on dateless coins with mintmarks. Found some better dates but they are only worth a fraction of one with a visible date. I'm not a fan of ruining coins, but since dateless nickels are not worth very much, I don't have a problem with it
Dateless nickels are pretty much used for jewelery anyways so have a little fun with them. It's always interesting seeing what shows and imagining the history behind them. I still do this when I can get a good deal in bulk. I did find a 1914D and 1921S this way. A cheap enough way to use as space fillers until you can afford to get better ones.
Depends on what you consider "ruined". Dateless buffalos are worth between 5 and 10 cents each. A restored date that is very common is going to still be worth between 5 and 10 cents. But if a scarce or rare date/mint is revealed after the acid dating, it will definitely be worth more than 5 to 10 cents. So although the coin will be damaged after the date restoration, there is really no way to lose.
