I need to find out a good way to clean the red off of old nickels? I've found 7 or 8 Buffaloes anf V nickels the last 2 months and can't read the date or see details on most of them. I know it's not usually good to clean old coins, but if I can't see the dates, what good are they? I read somewhere to try them in coke or CLR but don't know if that would work or is something else better? My tubbler isn't working and didn't know if I wanted to try that anyway. I was hoping to show these in our club meeting on Thursday.
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Best way to clean the red off old nickels?
- Thread starter jimmyzr1
- Start date
Best way for nickels is Naval Jelly. Available at the hardware store. It's a rust remover. And that "red" you see on naval jelly, is d/t a rusty composition afterall. (hence the red color). Soak, rub, repeat. They might turn out pinkish color though, when done. So perhaps a light toothpaste rub, or whatever after that.
JimGilmore
Active member
Depends on why your removing the red and how old the coins are....
I am not a real coin collector but everything I have said is that removing the patina from a oin can destroy it's value. So I would think that includs removing the red color....
I would just use olive oil and clean with dish soap.
If we are talking about cleaning it to make it spendable then tumble with sone gravel and dish soap. You can add a table spoon of fine sand to speed up the removal of heavy encrustments , but check more often to not wear the coins down too much.
I am not a real coin collector but everything I have said is that removing the patina from a oin can destroy it's value. So I would think that includs removing the red color....
I would just use olive oil and clean with dish soap.
If we are talking about cleaning it to make it spendable then tumble with sone gravel and dish soap. You can add a table spoon of fine sand to speed up the removal of heavy encrustments , but check more often to not wear the coins down too much.
The nickels you dig will most likely be worth about 5 cents unless you dig that 6th 1913 V nickel so check for any rare date before you do anything. Now that you realize you have another junk coin you decide to clean it up to look better for your collection because to you it's worth a million bucks because you found it? I'm the same way and I like my nickels to somewhat resemble a nickel instead of a brown/orange turd so I clean them. If you think these nickels I posted below look ok then read on..... I don't have a process and take each one on an individual basis? I start with rubbing them on an S.O.S. pad (got that from G4E & Nebtrack on the Etrac forum...thanks) and that will really clean em up and the more you rub the better they look! You might even want to stop right there? After I rub em up I can better see actually how bad the nickel is pitted? If the field of the coin is still turd brown/orange I will take an abrasive like Barkeepers Friend, Comet, etc and rub some more and try and clean up the field on the coin to try and get that nickel color I'm after? If that doesn't quite get the effect I'm after, and the coin isn't really pitted, I'll do the vinegar & salt as a last resort. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS TRICKY...... If the nickel is pitted the vinegar & salt will really bring that out and make for a pretty ruff looking (but very clean...lol) pitted old nickel? If it comes down to using the vinegar & salt I usually put the nickel I'm working on in with about 10-15 other NICKELS (only use nickels, never any other coins) in a small container along with some vinegar and a dash of salt and shake em up. The tricky part is to not over due it, I usually take the nickel out after only maybe 1-2 min and check it's progress? if I see bad pitting I'll stop...if I want it a little cleaner I'll continue for a bit longer? DO NOT let it sit for 15 min or so like you would if cleaning junk clad, etc. Always rinse/rub off your coin after you remove it from the vinegar/salt. Like I said.... I do them each on an individual basis depending on the condition and how they react to the process(s)? Start off with the steel wool and that may be all that you need? The abrasives are also pretty safe with little damage to the worthless coin.....the vinegar is dangerous but really cleans em up where you can get that nickel color? If the coins below look ok to you then experiment with the stuff mentioned above and be careful with the vinegar. I mix these processes up also but always start with the steel wool first....
IMO....the more worn nickels with little detail need darker fields to help bring out what little highlights are left so I try not to clean the field of the coin near as well as I would a better condition coin? jmo If you try this...good luck!
PS...the 1910 V was just that rare coin that for some unknown reason didn't come out of the ground all corroded? It was brown/orange and it actually did get the vinegar treatment but it was that one rare coin that cleaned up exceptionally well...not the norm. Our soil out west is also a lot nicer to nickels than most..........
IMO....the more worn nickels with little detail need darker fields to help bring out what little highlights are left so I try not to clean the field of the coin near as well as I would a better condition coin? jmo If you try this...good luck!
PS...the 1910 V was just that rare coin that for some unknown reason didn't come out of the ground all corroded? It was brown/orange and it actually did get the vinegar treatment but it was that one rare coin that cleaned up exceptionally well...not the norm. Our soil out west is also a lot nicer to nickels than most..........
oneguy said:
You bring up a good point: If you look through the coin books at the values of nickels, you will see that very few have any *true* numismatic value (unless graded very high). Unlike silver coins, where there are scores of mints & years that DO have numismatic value.
The factor in that ...... most often .... our nickels are "kissed" by the ground. So that even if you DID get the reddish brown off, you'd STILL have micro-pits that would still kill any numismatic value. Contrast to silver coins, which hold up much better (ie.: resist ground kissing) than pennies or nickels.
So, while it's fun to find buffalos, V's, and shields, yet when we're totally honest with ourselves, none of them will ever bring value
One time I got into a park scrape demolition site in San Francisco. And naturally, since it was a demolition site (ie.: everything torn up), I treated it with "relic mindset". Ie.: dig all, chasing nickels and possible jewelry. Contrast to another fellow who cherry-picked, favoring the high conductors. At the end of the night that fellow had something like 25 silvers (inc. some choice barbers and seateds!). He had perhaps a single nickel. While I had perhaps 7 silvers, yet I had a DOZEN BUFFALOS & V's! Yahoo ! But when I went to study them for dates, it turns out they were all reddish brown corroded worthless ^$!#$
Thus the fellow cherry picking (since time of this dirt strata was limited) was actually wiser. Go figure, all our silver was S mints, so .... in some cases, it may actually be better to pass the nickels I love all old coins (US) and of course the silver is VERY nice! Only dug one good coin today but the 1888 Indian made my whole day so it doesn't have to be silver. Now on those tearouts/const. projects a guy might want to cherry pick as usually you're dodging machinery, other MD'ers, and time is limited? Speaking of tearouts...got some intel on an upcoming project just today that I have to check up on and hopefully get a break ground date?
Those old corroded nickels, etc. may not be worth anything but they are worth millions to me because somebody lost them and I found em.........
OP....show us some pics of your cleaned nickels and how you did them....????
Those old corroded nickels, etc. may not be worth anything but they are worth millions to me because somebody lost them and I found em.........
OP....show us some pics of your cleaned nickels and how you did them....????
JimGilmore
Active member
Any jefferson nickel will be worth only 5 cents with the exception of war nickles with mint marks...they are silver....
Any buffalos you have a decent chance of selling for more than a nickel depending on how you sell stuff....
Not saying your gonna get 100 dollars but you mig just jut them in a display and try selling them for 10 cents each or some thing.
Or a fancy slab showing the buffalo nickel 1 showing the front 1 showing the date and somekind of text about the buffalo nickel and try pricing it for $2.00 or such....
what works is to try stuff and sometimes people will buy.
Any buffalos you have a decent chance of selling for more than a nickel depending on how you sell stuff....
Not saying your gonna get 100 dollars but you mig just jut them in a display and try selling them for 10 cents each or some thing.
Or a fancy slab showing the buffalo nickel 1 showing the front 1 showing the date and somekind of text about the buffalo nickel and try pricing it for $2.00 or such....
what works is to try stuff and sometimes people will buy.
7centsworth
Well-known member
Soak them in ketchup. It works great. My buddy told me this and I thought he was crazy. It worked great.
