Cleaning an old V nickel??

[treasurekidd]

Hi guys and gals! I have an old V nickel (not a MD find) that is in terrible shape. The date appears to be gone, (I can make out the 8, as in 18 something, but nothing more) and the entire coin was covered with blackish brown corrosion. There is nothing more frustrating than having an old coin you can't make out the date on! The only part of the coin that can be clearly read is around the V itself, and thats the only reason I could even ID it. I tried soaking it in warm water and liquid dishsoap for a month, and that seemed to work a little, but not much. I have had good luck cleaning green crud off wheaties by soaking in olive oil, and thats where it is right now. Will that work with the V nickel? Also, I have heard you can use a product called NickODate for old dateless Buffalo nickels, and I was gonna try it on the V nickle if I found a way to clean some of the black crud off. Any ideas or tips at all on making this thing readable would be great! Here are some pics so you know what I'm up against.

PS: I found this while moving in to my current home 4 years ago. A friend and I were ripping out the stove in the kitchen, and there it was, lying on the floor under the old stove! I have looked for more stashed around the house, to no avail, lol!

 

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[Leon]

Here's site I was reading the other day about Buffalo nickles with no date, it may help ya...
http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/4044/nodate.html
Not sure if any of the "V" nickles are worth the trouble, but ya never know...

 

[Klaatu]

It looks like the nickel got toasted by the oven. I doubt you can clean that off.

I enhanced the pic (see below). The last digit appears to be a 0. That means it could be 1890, 1900 or 1910. The second digit does appear to be an 8. The third digit does not appear to be a 1.

So my guess is that it is 1890.

 

[treasurekidd]

Wow, Klaatu, how'd you do that with the pic? Is that Photoshop? Thanks for the link Leon, and for the advice everyone. I'm just gonna soak it in olive oil for a month or so. If that doesn't work, I'll try the distilled water. I just don't want to try anything that'll potententially ruin the date I am trying to read. I know, I know, why go through all the trouble for a beat up V-Nickel, right? Well, I guess I just want to prove that I'm smarter than the coin, I already know I'm more stubborn, lol! Thanks again all!

 

[keniii]

That nickel is too porous for anything to work well. Distilled water is your best bet.

 

[brla]

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