Cleaning Nickels

[Suppo]

I found some buffalo nickels this weekend, one being a 1916, but they are rust colored. Some of the properties around here that I work turn clad coins red/rust colored and it doesn't seem to come off with water and soap or scrubbing with a toothbrush. Does anyone know how to clean this off the coins. I'd like to clean it off the buffalo nickels without ruining them?

Thanks

[DougF]

Nickels are tough to clean. They may be some old posts on the subject. I have never had luck cleaning them. Good luck

[RickO]

Hot peroxide might work, acetone is another solution it can soak in without harming the surface. You can try electrolysis as well, but only VERY short immersions. RickO

[JBEXPRESS]

electrolysis as stated above, Shold get that coin looking good. Go to youtube.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS0e_jj0Bf8

[Drosera]

I don't think acetone would work in this situation. As far as I know it is only useful for removing organic residue from coins.

If nothing else works and you want them silver again AND are willing to live with a little bit of a rough finish to the coin put it in vinegar. It may take up to a few days but it will get rid of virtually all the rust and pinkish cast. If you are worried about the results take a modern Jefferson nickel and leave it in the vinegar for a few days and see what it looks like. The best would be if you used a dug and uncleaned one, but even a shiny one will work for this test. Jefferson nickels are the exact same composition as Buffalo nickels so it is a great way to test cleaning methods on nickels.

[ohiochris]

Ketchup works good for nickels. There is vinegar in it as well as the acid from tomatoes so its not necessarily something you want to do with valuable coins but worth a try. Just coat them in ketchup and check them in a day or two.

[goochas]

Good post...BUMP to top...just found a buffalo yesterday and have the same issue. Any other solutions?

[Drosera]

I just followed through with my own advice and put a shiny new nickel in vinegar for a few days. As I mentioned above I've done this with old corroded nickels and it completely removes the corrosion, but I was concerned about etching from the vinegar.

The new nickel test gave interesting results. The main difference is that the luster was taken off the coin. So instead of being very shiny, it now has a dull finish. But it didn't have a noticible effect on the details of the coin. I'd say the coin went from AU-50 to EF-45. This may be a big deal on a high grade coin, but if you are only at G-4 to begin with (which is common with corroded nickels) it may not even drop it to AG-3. So my recommendation is that if the coin seems to be in rough shape to begin with, vinegar will clean it up with minimal damage. But if you have a key date I'd try other methods first.