Help How do you acid date a dateless buffalo nickel?

Arkman

I have plenty of dateless buffalo nickels and I just heard about this thing called acid dating them to get the date out. I know it damages the coin slightly but I would still like to give it a try. Does anyone know how it is done and if so how feasible it would be for a amatuer collector to do? Please help.

kranky

You need a product called Nic-a-Date which is about $5 for a bottle. Put a drop on the date area, and watch. When the date is visible enough, rinse with water and wipe dry. It's that simple. You can do it easily.

Welcome to the boards, and nice handle!

Arkman

Where would you purchase this nic-a-date? I've never heard of it or seen it.

OneYearTypes

if i were you i wouldn't do it.
years ago i inherited a bunch of nickels that had gone throught that process, (seems like the main ingredient was iodine or something). clean dateless buffaloes look much better than those things that haven't seen the light of day in almost a decade.

keep your coins as they are, you'll appreciate it more in a few years i bet.

Arkman

how good is the market for such dateless buffalos? Aren't there tons of them out there? Sorry, I have been a collector for about 9 years but I am only 21. I enjoy collecting but obviously I haven't been able to devote a lot of time to it and thus am ignorant in many areas. Also is it true that acid dated rare dates are still worth about the same as the non-acid dated variety? Thanks for your help.

kranky

There are dealers who advertise in the classified ads in Coin World magazine who pay 13 cents each for dateless buffalos.

An acid date Buffalo won't be worth the same as one which had a visible date normally. The acid solution leaves a mark which makes it obvious what happened to the coin. Figure a rare acid date Buffalo to be worth about half of one that is in Good condition. But the rare date ones will have some value. The ones that aren't rare probably won't because ones that weren't treated are available.

And keep in mind that the Type 1 Buffalos are identifiable even if the date is worn off, by looking at the reverse side.

Here is one place to buy Nic-a-date.

Cam40

I bought some nic-o-date and tryed it on a dateless Buff.It worked to show the date but its obvious it was treated.
You squeeze out not even a half a drop of nick-0-date on the date area and wait about until the yellowish color
starts to turn black.Wipe it with a paper towel to through away.I,m not sure washing it down the drain is a good idea.
That stuff could be bad for pipes.

I was told by one dealer those treated Buffs arent worth anymore than if had remained dateless.
About the only ones worth something even treated would be a `13 S type2,or an`18 D 8/7.
Could be worth a try for those.

kranky

I did see a 1916/16 acid date Buffalo in an ANACS slab, net graded to Fair or Poor (I don't remember which).

Cam40

THATS the one I was going to add to the `even treated is a killer`catagory.
Man.Thats the big one too.

Wolfy00002

I sold a role of dateless on ebay for $8.00 a couple of months ago. Actually had a few people bidding on it, I knew I wouldn't get a ton, but it was more than the $.13.