I have this 1882 Shield Nickel that is discoloured. (It is not 'dirty'.) I would like to get it 'shiny' (or close to it) again. I have tried (variously) soapy water, vinegar and salt, "Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce", "Tarn-off", and "C.L.R." without any success. Can anyone advise me of a product (or method) that might accomplish what I am trying to do, please?
You can "brighten" it, but it will be etched and ruined. The vinegar and salt has probably already damaged it. The CLR definitely has ruined it. I don't think acetone will do anything, as this coin looks toned, rusted and environmentally damaged. Maybe it was a metal detector find at some point. The acetone won't harm the surface of the coin. I was able to raise the date on some dateless Buffaloes (just an experiment) with white vinegar and a few drops of hydrogen peroxide. The dates appeared, but the coins became unnaturally whiter. Etched. The coin value will drop. One way to clean a coin where you don't care about the value anymore, is to take any brand of toothpaste (not the gel, the white stuff) rub it on the coin and rub it between your fingers, and rinse, and wipe with a paper towel. A lot of dark stuff will come off, but there are abrasives in the toothpaste which does this. The value of the coin will drop. You could use silver cleaner that might shine it up, but the value of the coin will drop. This coin may be beyond repair. You can polish it, but that will destroy any integrity it has left. You could leave it the way it is, that color is probably permanent some coins just get like that. Shrug your shoulders and move on.
That coin is so damaged it never going to shine again! No matter what you do! Plus you NEVER EVER CLEAN A COIN! It is corroded and pased any help one may think of....vinegar and salt one an acid,the other a corrosive both would have a negative effect on medals. Woscestershire sauce who enlighten you to use a condiment on coins? Oy vey what next chicken soup?
The problem is that the discoloration is below the surface of the nickel, not on the surface. To shine it up means removing the discolored metal and I don't think you want to do that. If you really want to try to play chemist/metallurgist, I would practice on some modern clad dimes and quarters that were metal detector finds, since the outer clad layer is the same composition as the nickel. However, I don't know of any chemistry tricks that would help and strongly feel that there isn't anything you can do to improve it
Clean... uh... conservation of coins is incredibly tricky. Silver is amenable to treatment by a few means, but I know of mostly nothing that really helps on nickel.
A guy on YT was cleaning his metal finds (old Lincolns, Indian Head cents) with a wire brush. I told him he was ruining the coins and making them worth nothing, but he didn't care because he liked the way they looked after instead of before. This coin is already ruined. CLR is for rust stains in toilets.
You could try Nickelene but there is very little hope of brightening this coin. On the positive side, nothing you do to it can ruin it worse than it already is.
@paddyman98 Thank-you. Maybe next time. Thank-you, everyone - The Toothpaste returned a degree of the 'silver' colour to it. For those who wondered where I got the Worcestershire Sauce idea from, see:- http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/c...hod-cleaning-your-buffalo-shield-nickels.html I had a 'Shield' nickel that I wanted to clean (remove the stain) so I 'Googled' it and that is what came up.
Ugh. Cleaning coins with Worcestershire sauce isn't a good idea, it's a terrible ideal. You know what's in Worcestershire sauce, right? Vinegar. Plus salt. Plus contaminants, including some that can stain. If you're intent on ruining a coin, just use vinegar plus salt; it's a lot cheaper than Worcestershire. If you want to bring out a date or other details, and don't care that you're destroying the coin numismatically, just use white vinegar, NO SALT, and a little patience.
I thought it was the anchovies and tamarind, supplementalists say may help boost heart health, encourage weight loss, relieve constipation, and fight off harmful bacteria and viruses. So it must be good for rust
I have sacks of "no-date" buffalos and have done exactly this myself on a few of them. On about three out of five it did return a readable date. And yes they are unnaturally blast white afterwards.
Have I getting an oxy acetylene torch and reducing it to a pile of bright shiny metal? Please please please put that former coin out of its misery... if ever there was a reason for a DNR order or living will for a coin - we've found it
Since it's so far gone, and it's made of nickel (75% copper & 25% nickel ??) .. just use nickel polish.
Some people claim vinegar itself encourages weight loss. I don't know if that's true for humans, but it's definitely true for nickels.
