What's going on with this 1890 V Nickel and is there anything I can do to "fix" it?

tommy44

This 1890 V nickel is in a partial set of V nickels I'm thinking of selling. I think it looks at least EF except for the rims, the fields even look like it might be a proof, problem is it is almost black. Soaked it in acetone for about two weeks with no effect. Any ideas on how I could approve its appearance? I have a 1893 and 1894 in the same set that look just like it.

remumc

Looks like environmental damage to me. If that's not PVC I'm seeing, then must be green corrosion.

291fifth

Environmental damage from being buried. It can't be saved. It is a good album space filler for a budget collector.

tommy44

@291fifth said:
Environmental damage from being buried. It can't be saved. It is a good album space filler for a budget collector.

Thanks, that's what I was afraid of. Is it something in the soil that reacts with the copper and/or nickel in the coin?

amwldcoin

Corrosion!

johnny9434

i would say nothng. corrosion

Moxie15

@tommy44 said:

@291fifth said:
Environmental damage from being buried. It can't be saved. It is a good album space filler for a budget collector.

Thanks, that's what I was afraid of. Is it something in the soil that reacts with the copper and/or nickel in the coin?

Yes, there are lots of things in the soil that reacts to copper and nickel. Salts, acids, water, animal urine, alkali will all react to the metals to break them down.