Shield Nickel, cleaning advice

[Oreo0517]

I recently found this shield nickel, but as you can see it is in rough shape. I was hoping there was a way to clean it up a little bit to find a date. One side is obviously worse than the other. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[ucnegold?]

I would leave it as is. I once ruined a bucket-lister (1864 2-cent) trying to improve the appearance. I was warned but was new to the hobby and thought I knew better. Unfortunately, it is toast now but I did manage to take a few pictures of it before I removed that beautiful green patina. I only wished I had listened.

If you still insist on cleaning, here is one method:

 

[Oreo0517]

Thx for the quick reply.

 

[Jamflicker]

Fine steel wool or SOS pads work great on nickels.

 

[Xxray]

Soak it in olive oil for months, then toothbrush off the crud

 

[jhanson]

Second for the SOS pad. Works great.

 

[teotwawki12]

How I do mine:

Did I just copper plate a buffalo nickel??

It's raining. Figured I'd take a day off from detecting the newly thawed ground so that I don't do five in a row and make my wife think I'm really nuts. So...with nothing better to do I decided to try cleaning some of my nickels. I'm not a coin collector, so "ruining" them doesn't bother me...

metaldetectingforum.com

More nickel cleaning

My last three old nickel finds have been waiting for acidic destruction! A splash of white vinegar, a shake of table salt and in they go. They were in there for a few minutes and I realized I should take a quick "before" photo. My last three non-Jefferson finds were a buffalo, V, and a...

metaldetectingforum.com

 

[Cherry Picker]

My Shield nickel I found at Fort Dodge some 30 years ago. You used to be able to see it was an 1868. I'd leave it the way it is.