Buffing the Buff. (Not in the Buff)

Oldsjunkie

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So I posted a while ago about cleaning a key date V Nickel for presentation sake. It's a real shame how bad nickels come out of the ground, especially since some of my favorite coin designs are nicks. Pulled a 1916 Buffalo out of a park earlier this week and wanted to make it pretty before it went into the album. For the love of all that is bologna, please don't do this to a valuable coin! You don't see early Buffs with dates on em real often, so I didn't want to potentially rub the date off this one. I skipped the baking soda paste and went straight to the Gojo pumice cleaner with a soft rag. I worked the reverse first to see how it affected the lettering back there to gauge how the already difficult to see date would take the abrasion. The lettering took it pretty well so I worked both sides a little with some Gojo and water. Came out looking pretty nice. Hoping that shining up the high points would help the presentation of the coin and hopefully the contrast high to low would make the date pop a little. I took after it with a clean rag and some polishing compound. Big difference! You can see the date pretty plainly now, whereas before you had to get the light at just the right angle to read it. Gonna look much better in the album now.:aok: As with everything, YMMV. Thanks for looking and HH!

16bufffront.jpg

16buffback.jpg

16buff1.jpg

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looks great - I might try that, although my buffalos don't look as good as that one when they come out of the ground.
 
looks great - I might try that, although my buffalos don't look as good as that one when they come out of the ground.

Thanks for the compliment! I've got a thread where I did the same thing with a key date V Nickel. It looks pretty good except I went a little further and put some wax on it. I wish I hadn't, but after rubbing on it for a few days, it looks more natural.
 
Looks good! I found a V and a buff last night might have to give that a try! Thanks for sharing!

No problem! Just finished up an 1899 V that I pulled from the same yard that the 1886 V came from, but about four years back. It's in phenomenal condition and I wanted it to present well for my little display. Same Gojo and polishing compound procedure. Wish I had passed on the compound on this coin because it looked more natural beforehand. Still shows well though.

Before
obversebefore.jpg

reversebefore.jpg

After
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Good luck and HH!
 
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No problem! Just finished up an 1899 V that I pulled from the same yard that the 1886 came from about four years back. It's in phenomenal condition and I wanted it to present well for my little display. Same Gojo and polishing compound procedure. Wish I had passed on the compound on this coin because it looked more natural beforehand. Still shows well though.

Before
View attachment 359818

View attachment 359819

After
View attachment 359820

View attachment 359821

Good luck and HH!

Wow! That thing looks amazing! Can't wait to try it out!
 
Wow! That thing looks amazing! Can't wait to try it out!

Thanks cellr! I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out. The contrast of the high to low areas really make it pop, which is what I was looking for in this coin. The display I'm planning to put together for this dream site I've been so fortunate to get on should come out great with these nickels being so pretty now.:thumbsup:
 
Wow that's amazing!!! That V is beautiful!! I have an old shield nickel.....I didn't dig it but it's toasted....gonna have to try that on it....can't make it any worse...thanks for sharing!!
 
Wow that's amazing!!! That V is beautiful!! I have an old shield nickel.....I didn't dig it but it's toasted....gonna have to try that on it....can't make it any worse...thanks for sharing!!

Thanks a lot! Anything I can do to contribute is an honor. Yeah, when they already look rough and aren't a valuable piece, it's nice to have them look pretty. I love coins and the Vs, shields and 2 centers are some of my favorites so this really makes them something worth showing the album off for. Good luck and HH!
 
I believe there are plenty of cases where cleaning a coin will not hurt a thing, and actually make it worth more, at least worth something...

Nice work man!!

<°)))>{
 
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. If it's not a key date coin or something valuable, I love showing people my 2x2s with pretty, shiny coins as opposed to the blackened state in which most of my silvers come out of the ground! I'm never going to sell my collection so I think they look better with some luster to them. Personal opinion only, and it's not up for debate. Great looking coins olds! keep up the great work! HH! :) If it looks like shizz, give it a whizz!! :laughing::laughing::laughing:
 
So I posted a while ago about cleaning a key date V Nickel for presentation sake. It's a real shame how bad nickels come out of the ground, especially since some of my favorite coin designs are nicks. Pulled a 1916 Buffalo out of a park earlier this week and wanted to make it pretty before it went into the album. For the love of all that is bologna, please don't do this to a valuable coin! You don't see early Buffs with dates on em real often, so I didn't want to potentially rub the date off this one. I skipped the baking soda paste and went straight to the Gojo pumice cleaner with a soft rag. I worked the reverse first to see how it affected the lettering back there to gauge how the already difficult to see date would take the abrasion. The lettering took it pretty well so I worked both sides a little with some Gojo and water. Came out looking pretty nice. Hoping that shining up the high points would help the presentation of the coin and hopefully the contrast high to low would make the date pop a little. I took after it with a clean rag and some polishing compound. Big difference! You can see the date pretty plainly now, whereas before you had to get the light at just the right angle to read it. Gonna look much better in the album now.:aok: As with everything, YMMV. Thanks for looking and HH!


Nice work on this nickels. Any chance you (or someone) could chime in with more specifics on the exact GoJo product used and perhaps a brand name on this polishing agent? For example if you look up GoJo you find a family of products...some liquid some powder. I love these great cleaning tip posts, but it can be hard to follow through on them once you decide you want to find and buy the products if you don't know EXACTLY which one you are looking for. Maybe post an image of them? That would really help allot. Thanks!
 
Nice work on this nickels. Any chance you (or someone) could chime in with more specifics on the exact GoJo product used and perhaps a brand name on this polishing agent? For example if you look up GoJo you find a family of products...some liquid some powder. I love these great cleaning tip posts, but it can be hard to follow through on them once you decide you want to find and buy the products if you don't know EXACTLY which one you are looking for. Maybe post an image of them? That would really help allot. Thanks!

I know this is from a thread long ago...but I never saw this question. For anyone wanting to know,

This is the Gojo pumice hand cleaner.

http://www.gojo.com/en/Product/0951-15

This is the polishing compound.

https://www.turtlewax.com/our-products/renew-restore/turtle-wax-polishing-compound

Now get to cleaning nickels!! :D
 
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