Cleaning a V nickle

Well I couldn't sleep yesterday so I took my detector and went to a local beach at 5:30 in the morning. After about an hour of searching and picking trash the sun came up. A short time later I dug a a little gem, a 1901 V nickle which seemed to be in pretty decent condition except for a build up of patina and some crud. Can anyone recommend a decent way to clean it up without damaging it much more? I'll get some pics up in a bit.

Thanks