I got it now...the silver and the nickel have different designs and the one they found was the design made from nickel...You cant clean a dug three cent nickel and have it look like the one they found?...if you cant, then they didn't dig it.
I'd say, unless it was in oxygen free mud all this time.
for it to come out of the ground like that would be one in a million at best.
to clean it like that would probably be the same.
20/20 hindsight, I guess I should never say Never.
but it doesn't seem possible from my experience.
My Shield Nickels have better detail then My Liberty nickels.
but I can't even remember oxygen free Sweet arrow Lake mud being easy on the color
of dug buffalo's. when not Rust color, they were black.
again I have no problem with them cleaning & ID'ing finds before
they pretend to dig them on camera.
pulling something out and going "What The ?" on a tv show
and not having time to research it by the end means either
i.d.ing it for a future show,
or leaving things up in the air.
I like knowing when they dig them what they found.
But replacement is just wrong.
it would be like digging a crumpled CS plate with a bullet hole .
and showing them digging replica in mint condition they drilled a hole in