My oldest coin yet

[Older The Better]

Found a shield nickel yesterday. I cleaned gently it with a wet toothpick. I still can’t make out the date and I don’t want to alter it too much. Is there any chance I can tease a date out with naval jelly or something? Also I’m no coin expert but I read they didn’t produce many after 187-something until 1883 is it safe to assume it’s likely before that or are those dates not as rare as it sounds? I’m on a very new site and I’m trying to narrow the date on it.

 

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[vpone]

nice find and congrats - haven't found one of those is a LONG time - very nice.

vp

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Congrats on a rare find and on finding your oldest coin ever !
It's always a thrill when you break your own records in this hobby !

 

[Mackaydon]

Last year of mintage was 1883; key dates are 1879,1880 and 1881.
Don.

 

[Possum]

Awesome find, Congrats and thanks for sharing... "D"

 

[ArfieBoy]

Congratulations on the shield nickel! Good luck with determining the date. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Silvermonkey]

Shield nickels are so fun to find ( and quite hard to come by). Sadly, mine have always been quite crunchy out of the ground...Yours looks to be in better than average condition. Congrats!

 

[Tencents]

Congratulations that's a hard one to find. Yours is in really great shape believe it or not. I've only found one in 15 years of detecting.

 

[Older The Better]

That’s cool to hear I had no idea wether it was a rare or a common coin to find. This was my oldest one up to this... I do think this was in fantastic shape for being buried 100+ years

 

[RussM]

Looks like it has that caked on 150 year crud that my last one had. I finally came to the conclusion that removing the crud was the only way I was going to find out what I had. After a soaking in olive oil, I began with my fingernail scraping off that layer, while keeping it in olive oil until the coin showed itself. In my case it was worth it, for I'd have never discovered the identity. You might try it... what have you got to lose? Congrats on the shield nickel, they don't surface often! I'm still looking for mine...

 

[Wildcat1750]

Congratulations on your oldest coin especially because it's a Shield Nickel!
Nickels are hard to deal with after they've been in the ground for so long...

 

[rayoh]

Shield nickels are very rare. I would not get too aggressive cleaning it. I have had the face of nickels to peel off, leaving a slug. Great find!

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!!!! Congrats !!!!!

 

[lenmac65]

Nice find. Still looking for my first one of those, and that one looks pretty nice. Congrats.

 

[Older The Better]

Thanks all, anybody have an opinion on naval jelly? I don’t ever intend to sell it so I’m not concerned about possibly hurting it’s monetary value but I would like to preserve it as an artifact as best I can

 

[JeffInMass]

Nice find! Dates can be tough on those, sometimes the gentlest of cleaning can wipe it right off.

 

[Older The Better]

Used squirrels gojo suggestion it worked out great, unfortunately I think the date is long gone

 

[Thebigd81]

Great find! Before too long you'll get an even older coin.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Congrats on your oldest coin. Shield Nickels are a tougher coin to find.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Great find, and it still has some good details even though no date. I'd stop there and call it good. Congrats.