I just picked up this 1946 S nickel because it is proof like. However it has some substance on the surfaces that detract from the coin's eye appeal. Is there an acceptable way to clean nickels? Something like a silver dip?
Comet and steel wool. It'll take just about anything off and leave a nice shine. (Please don't do this)
A friend of mine used a 50/50 mixture of distilled water and ammonia to dip a 3 cent nickel. It took the haze off pretty quickly but didn't mess with the luster. I don't recommend it, however. Do your research and try it with some cheap, face value coins.
Depending on what it looks like you could probably dip it safely. I don't get why so many people are seemingly terrified of dipping coins it's pretty easy and you can always dilute the dip to a very weak strength if worried about over doing it. Yes you will never know exactly what each coin will do. But with a lot of practice on coins that aren't super valuable you can get a feel for it and pretty good idea of what a coin will do based on prior experience.
@Blissskr @atcarroll @physics-fan3.14 Wish the quality of the photos could be better, but this is the best I can do with what I have: As you can see the problem is mostly on the reverse. Also, I don't think this would be granted PL by NGC and from the photos it may not look PL, but in hand and beneath the haze/spotting it has more of a mirrored-proof look than a frosty BS look. Without the haze/spotting this thing would really shine. Is there any safe way to get rid of it?
I am fairly sure it is a fingerprint, and they are difficult-almost impossible to remove without causing more problems. I would let it go as is.
The two heavy white spots on the reverse likely won't come off. I've used very dilute dip and dipped plenty of nickels from 70's-80's proof sets with haze on them and improved many of them but usually it's the mild haze look. When they get that heavy milky white look like the spot above Monticello and I see another above the mint mark it usually doesn't remove. Although you might be able lessen the haze in some of the lighter areas; you may end up not liking how the coin looks especially if the fields are nicely mirrored as you said as those white spots will generally become much more prominent looking.
Yes, I can see the PL-ish tendencies. However, your coin does not appear nearly strong enough for the PL designation (yours appears more reflective than a typical business strike, but the mirrors are not strong enough). The 46S is known in PL. There are 6 graded by NGC.
