First Buffalo! Need some cleaning advice

[baylorhall]

Took me forever, but found a buffalo buried in the sand at the lake. It isn't just dirty. It is crusty after all of those years in the wet sand. I would love to see if there is a date there. How should I try to clean it up? Thanks!

 

[Erik in NJ]

One word: ketchup

Seriously, put it in a plastic bag with ketchup for a couple days and replace sauce when it turn brown. I suppose you could also put it in straight or diluted vinegar which I've had success with recently.

 

[Charles Spurgeon]

Clean it with distilled water first and a soft bristled brush (tooth brush) and see where you're at. If its a key date, you could damage it with vinegar.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

try soaking it over night in acetone (nail polish remover) that should help loosen the crud and not actually hurt the coin.

 

[dustbuster]

Amazing find!! Love to see what the date was. Congrats.
Dustbuster

 

[SusanMN]

Start with a soak in lemon juice. It does great on crusty sand stuff. If it is still unreadable, you let it sit overnight in Worcheshire sauce. That will bleach it back to nickle color but it does leave the coin rather flat colored.

 

[ticm]

Start with a soak in lemon juice. It does great on crusty sand stuff. If it is still unreadable, you let it sit overnight in Worcheshire sauce. That will bleach it back to nickle color but it does leave the coin rather flat colored.

Yep

 

[Goes4ever]

Anything with vinegar in it has the potential to pit the nickle. I have tried countless methods and was disappointed with all of them, except using a sos pad. It is the quickest and best looking method to clean nickels. Hold the nickel under running water and rub the sos pad on it, you will be surprised how much better it will look.

If you click the banner in my signature I have a section with pictures of all my cleaning methods on my website