1912 V nickel

[chong2]

found a v the other day, its not a s mint, and i would like to clean it a little to make it more legible. im not worried about killing the value cause its somewhat corroded, and i dont want to remove all the patina. i had a 1919 buff i used olive oil awhile back, it did ok, gave a red tint to it. any ideas on cleaning this

 

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[Pirate Dirty Jack Rackham]

have you tried Electrolysis before? This probably works best for dirty/corroded coins.

http://www.mycoincollecting.com/collecting/cleaning-coins-electrolysis.html

 

[chong2]

i killed some coins trying that, i over did it, on some romans too, the look like swiss cheese...... thanks tho

 

[teverly]

Try baby oil.
Generally i find that no matter what i do to clean old v nickles the get that red color to them.Buffalos are not as bad as v nickles when it comes to cleaning.

 

[txpathfinder]

Cleaning your keepers.

If you love the beauty of coins, it doesn't matter whether you are a coin collector or just an coin shooting m.d. 'er- you will want a natural looking, clean coin not a stripped, scoured or scratched one. Remember this: in time distilled water will break down the gunk that is surrounding your V-nickel. Just let it soak and once in a while brush the surface with a soft toothbrush or paintbrush to loosen the dirt from inside the crevices. If you like add a little detergent to make the water a little more slippery. Keep the water clean by changing it every once in a while. If you don't believe it is working just take a photo of front and back when you start and then take another a week later. It is slow but then again your coin was in the ground for about fifty years so what's a week or two more? You can always try tumbling with gravel, chemical peels, acids etc later but first let the world's best solvent work its way through the grime. A gallon of distilled water is like a buck fifty at the grocery store. Shows us your before and afters!

 

[chong2]

i guess ill try that, after all i have been soaking some romans in oil for about 6 months now, so me and water will have patience.......i really would like it to clean without the red, so no oil, thanks tho.

 

[watercolor]

All the V nickels I've found have that "reddish" color to them also.

When I explained this to a friend, he recommenced that I soak them in
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce for 8 to 12-hours. . . it worked!

Here's a before & after pic of one of the ones I did.



Hope this helps,
watercolor

 

[chong2]

hey, thats cool, actually im gonna do that, then maybe soak in the distilled, very cool, thanks

 

[stefen]

All the V nickels I've found have that "reddish" color to them also.

When I explained this to a friend, he recommenced that I soak them in
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce for 8 to 12-hours. . . it worked!

Here's a before & after pic of one of the ones I did.




Hope this helps,
watercolor
[/quot

Probably the vinegar content...next time try plain white vinegar instead...