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whats up with indian head nickels?

father/son/ohio

Elite Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
641
Location
NE Ohio
does anyone know the composition of indianhead nickels?every time i pull one out of the ground it is almost completey decayed
 
75% copper 25% nickel. It's actually the same composition used today. If you were able to bury a 2008 nickel for 70+ years it would come out just as ugly :)
 
Hay Guys,

The Indian Nickel was minted from 1913 to 1938
from 75% copper and 25% nickel.

The Indian Nickel was also minted from BRONZE.
It was 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc

1864, 1864L, 1865 - 1869, 1869/69
1870 - 1885, 1886 Var. 1, 1886 Var. 2
1887 - 1909, 1909S

I do not know why they degrade so badly???

Some soils are not as bad. But, it is rare to see
a nice one recovered.

Happy Huntin,

Tabdog
 
The worst thing about them is they put the date on the highest spot of all. First thing to wear away, Steve in so az
 
Yep, different soils can be a problem, some areas, Buffalo's come out looking relatively ok...others, they get eaten. The red ones are fairly common after a while in certain soils. HH RickO
 
I haven't found too many Buff's, but yep, they come out nice and brown looking. What I should do is practice with some Jeff's that have been in the ground a bit and turned that funky brown. For now I just tumble them as I don't care how scratched up they may get. I should try some different, gentler cleaning techniques so if I ever do get another buff, V, etc I have a safer method of trying to clean them (assuming they are not key dates of course!).
 
The 50 and 100 yens coins in Japan are roughly the same composition.

10-15 years in the ground ( less if no grass above ) and they are the same reddish hue as the old Indian nickels. The long in the dirt ones are even redder.

When I clean them I can easily see the difference. Since they are just modern clad to me I use a brass brush. The new drops lose their red quickly and take just a few strokes to return to bright spendable condition.

The long in the soil ones will eventually lose their red to the brush but the surfaces are dull and pitted.
 
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