lrgoodger
Full Member
- May 2, 2023
- 123
- 931
- Detector(s) used
- Whites 6000-D, Garrett GTA-1000, Minelab Sovereign, XP Deus I, Equinox 800, XP Deus II
The folks who make the nickel date restorer used to sell a product called silv-a-date for restoring dates on silver coins. I worked great, but my bottle fell over and leaked and I wound up throwing it out many years ago. Recent searches for it were fruitless. I suspect the Feds got involved and decided it was too dangerous a product for us peons to have in our possession. I searched high and low for what to use and finally came across a post on another forum that talked about using the JSP silver testing solution, so I decided to give it a try.
The product is intended for identifying whether an object is made of silver, but it uses a mild acid to do so. This acid performs much the same function as the acid in the silv-a-date solution, but it has other components that cause color to appear if it is used on silver. That does work, and I was able to confirm that several objects I had dug were indeed silver. Then came the big question. How would it do as a date restorer?
I had the SLQ I dug on my property a couple of months ago with no date. I used the nickel date restorer on it and it seemed to bring out enough to see the date, and I posted the photos on the finds forum that I had found the key date 1923-S. You can see for yourself from the photos in that post that it looks for all the world like that last digit is a 3. But I suspected that it might just be lines randomly formed by the solution drying on the coin, so I tested it with the new (to me) DSP solution.
I had read in years past that if a SLQ was worn too far that the date restorer solution would not work and you would wind up just eating the metal away without ever being able to see the date, so I was careful to wipe the solution off after a few seconds at each application. I must have applied it 30 times on that SLQ. I was able to confirm that it definitely was not a 3 on the last digit. It looked like an 8 or 9 at several points during the process. My final conclusion is that the piece is a 1929-S. I never was able to clearly see the third digit, but the last digit is too far right for the third digit to be a 1. In spite of too many applications and eating the metal away well into the rim, you can still make out both 9s in the date, both in the full coin photo and in the date enlargement photo.
I had eight other SLQs without dates, and I used the solution on all of them. What I found confirmed what I had read years ago. If the date was barely obscured, the solution would bring it out rather quickly with one or two applications left on for 15 or 20 seconds. If the date was well worn off, it could not be brought back. Then I remembered my first seated quarter, found back in 1979. It had the date worn off and I had used the old original silv-a-date solution on it and it had worked perfectly, revealing it to be an 1857-O within a few seconds. For whatever reason, I rubbed the date back off with my thumb and it remained that way all these years. I decided to test the JSP solution on it and see if it would bring the date back once again. It worked perfectly, restoring the date within a few seconds. You can see it very clearly if you enlarge the photo.
My conclusion is that you can indeed use the JSP solution to restore dates on silver coins if the date is not too far gone.
The product is intended for identifying whether an object is made of silver, but it uses a mild acid to do so. This acid performs much the same function as the acid in the silv-a-date solution, but it has other components that cause color to appear if it is used on silver. That does work, and I was able to confirm that several objects I had dug were indeed silver. Then came the big question. How would it do as a date restorer?
I had the SLQ I dug on my property a couple of months ago with no date. I used the nickel date restorer on it and it seemed to bring out enough to see the date, and I posted the photos on the finds forum that I had found the key date 1923-S. You can see for yourself from the photos in that post that it looks for all the world like that last digit is a 3. But I suspected that it might just be lines randomly formed by the solution drying on the coin, so I tested it with the new (to me) DSP solution.
I had read in years past that if a SLQ was worn too far that the date restorer solution would not work and you would wind up just eating the metal away without ever being able to see the date, so I was careful to wipe the solution off after a few seconds at each application. I must have applied it 30 times on that SLQ. I was able to confirm that it definitely was not a 3 on the last digit. It looked like an 8 or 9 at several points during the process. My final conclusion is that the piece is a 1929-S. I never was able to clearly see the third digit, but the last digit is too far right for the third digit to be a 1. In spite of too many applications and eating the metal away well into the rim, you can still make out both 9s in the date, both in the full coin photo and in the date enlargement photo.
I had eight other SLQs without dates, and I used the solution on all of them. What I found confirmed what I had read years ago. If the date was barely obscured, the solution would bring it out rather quickly with one or two applications left on for 15 or 20 seconds. If the date was well worn off, it could not be brought back. Then I remembered my first seated quarter, found back in 1979. It had the date worn off and I had used the old original silv-a-date solution on it and it had worked perfectly, revealing it to be an 1857-O within a few seconds. For whatever reason, I rubbed the date back off with my thumb and it remained that way all these years. I decided to test the JSP solution on it and see if it would bring the date back once again. It worked perfectly, restoring the date within a few seconds. You can see it very clearly if you enlarge the photo.
My conclusion is that you can indeed use the JSP solution to restore dates on silver coins if the date is not too far gone.
