will nic a date work on a copper coin?

[hockeyguy]

Guys, I have a few spent LC's, 1 inparticular that I cannot get a date off of. It has a tremendous amount of green corosion on it and I can see a silhouette of the head but no date. It soaked in olive oil for week and has been in mineral oil for 1.5 weeks or so. A scrub with a toothbrush regularly has led me nowhere.....any ideas?

I believe this one to be a 1700's coin but just can't get a date.

[coinnut]

Hey HG, Unfortunately I don't think nic-a-date will work on that. It may even damage it further. It is an acid, (sulphuric maybe). If it's that tough emerald green or that washed out (whitened) green, the damage may be behind the green. So if you remove it, you may only have pitting. I usually use hot hydrogen peroxide on mine and hope for the best. A brass brush w/ dish soap also works on the softer green. With the hydrogen peroxide, put some in a microwave for about 10 seconds. Watch out it may bubble over. Just get it nice 'n hot and then put the coin in it. DO NOT PUT THE COIN IN THE MICROWAVE EVER!!!!! Bad things can happen The minute you drop the copper in the glass (I use a shot glass so there is solution on both sides of the coin), it will bubble like crazy. I let it go for about two minutes and then hit it with the brass brush. But you must remove (with lots of soap) all previous remains of any olive oil, mineral oil or other oils, otherwise the hydrogen peroxide won't work. Here is a coin that I barely got a date off of with the green mentioned. This coin was almost brand new when dropped. With my luck, the green only killed the date, and not the rest. This coin was completely green before cleaning. So if you feel you want to try a new cleaning method, give it a try. It works on some and not on others. Good luck.

[bmattioli]

I've only seen Nic a date used on Buffalo Nickles. I've used the boiling peroxide bath method on a IH that was too far gone. It worked to almost see the date. If they are key coins or of valuable I would leave as is.

Bruce

[bmattioli]

Great explanation George..

Bruce

[Islandhunter]

I usually jsut take a green scrunge pad to be corroded coppers....I willrinse em under hot water and use dish soap and then use the scrunge pad on them scrubbing till all the corrosion os washed off. I don;t worry bout ruining a key date for with them that corroded you don;t know what it is and it ahs to be cleaned to even i.d. then the value of even a key date one is pretty much shot and besides...if ya leave it as is then you never really know what it is anyway. That said...if you KNOW it is an old copper...such as a flowing hair, Fugio or something that does have potential to be valuable...don;t touch it just leave as is until someone reputable can tell you its potential value and how best to clean it if at all.

[OkieDigger]

I use nic-a-date on nickels from time to time. I have tried it on some copper/bronze coins. It will cause no harm to them, but it also doesn't work on them either. I'm pretty sure it's not an acid in the way we normally think of acid. I believe it's made up of ferric-chloride.

[angellionel]

It works great on nickels, but I haven't seen where it works on any other type of coin.

[Eagle 1]

I use electrolysis on my coppers it works great. Be carful not to over do it. here is a link.
Here is my coin before and after.

http://gometaldetecting.com/electrolysis_cleaning.htm

Eagle 1

[Eagle 1]

After

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[Eagle 1]

1757 king george II

Eagle 1

[Eagle 1]

1757 king george II lost my date.

Eagle 1

[Eagle 1]

To finish it off use bakeing soda / water and a tooth brush.
Eagle 1