indian head

[dbennett7]

learned a good lesson today found a indian yesterday could not read date read someplace about soaking overnight in vinager bad idea toasted the front of coin cannot make out any details back looks good live and learn dennis

[Dirty Money]

Tough luck on the Indian head. There's no recovery for that.

Next time soak it in olive oil. It helps delineate the numbers without hurting the metal. And, no, it won't mess up the patina.

HH

[marinedad]

thats too bad dennis.

[Gimmie The Loot]

I usually use a hydrogen peroxide soak for an hour or two and then remove it and pick at it with a tooth pick.

[p2c]

I usually use a hydrogen peroxide soak for an hour or two and then remove it and pick at it with a tooth pick.

I do a variation of this. I don't soak, I just dip the toothpick in hot peroxide and have at it.

I find Indian Heads are sometimes much easier to mess up if you are not careful, than say a wheat. The worst is actually fatties (pre-1864) if you dig those. I dug an 1859 a year and a half ago. Pennies get destroyed in my sonicator (shakes the surface detail off) but Nickels do great. But nickels don't clean well with chemicals. The composition of a fatty is between a nickel and a penny. I haven't found a good method for those, but I also have little experience with fatties.