dont feel too bad, around here the soil does the same thing to copper and nickel. silver comes up looking ok. you still have a nice find there. im still looking for my first "v". congrats!
That's a fine looking V-Nickel. Most of those that come out of the ground here in Ohio look much like yours. Sometimes if you are lucky enough to find one in good top soil, they will come out of the ground looking fine. But very, very rarely!
Yes you are right about the value, they usually don't have much value after being in the ground so long. Don't get me wrong some coins do hold there value.
Great find, keep us posted when you find that really nice V-Nickel.