BD or something else??

Not sure if this is BD or not. I mentioned this in another thread last night and was asked by @red_spork and @Alegandron to post pics. I didn't feel right crashing someone else's thread. So here we are. I'm not sure but to me it looks like it would flake off pretty easily, thus my concern. The coin that's mostly affected is a cheap Tetricus II that I picked up a few months ago. Looking at a photo when I first got the coin there was some on the obverse and the edge. What concerns me is that it seems to have gotten worse. It's not one of those coins you really look at that often or it just didn't register to me when I last looked at it.
The first pic is a before photo then starts the after photos. I haven't taken it out of the 2 x 2 it's in, would like to identify the crud first.
Anybody chime in with observations and recommendations. Thanks.

 

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Yes, this coin should be treated, or it will be green all over, some time.

 

Treat it urgently, unless you want it to start getting holes all over as the BD eats through it. Don't delay...sometimes BD can eat through a coin in a week or less.

 

With Verdicare or something else?

 

Every time this is asked here someone will advise you check the green with a pin or other probe to see if it flakes easily (BD) or is solid (not). Have you done this? If it is not flaky, you can watch the coin carefully to see if it changes (gets more or larger green spots). If not, leave it alone. If it flakes easily or turns to powder, act immediately. Not all snakes are poisonous. Not all green is BD.

 

I'll take it out of holder & check.
Looking at photos I'm second guessing myself if it's actually gotten bigger or not since I got it around 2 probably 3 months ago.
Will post what it does after I take a toothpick to it.

 

I've never seen BD consume a coin in one week! But yes, it's definitely BD and should be treated if you want to keep the coin.

 

Yeah it pretty much came right off.
Verdicare or use something else?

 

This image shows two things. First, BD can attack billon/silver coins which are, after all, alloyed with copper. The insets show the suspect green area before (right) and after (left) a LIGHT touch with the pin point shown in the left image. Notice how the tall spot is now scattered over a much larger area.


After treatment with sesquicarbonate, the green is gone and the red deposits are lessened and darkened.

This coin and all my 'survivors' are examined regularly. I recommend placing treated coins in a 'hospital' tray and watching them for a couple years before returning them to the general population of your collection. I also recommend you just not buy coins that show BD. Yes, you may be able to 'cure' them but human medical science teaches us not to say we are cured of cancer but to talk about being in remission and visiting the doctor on a regular basis.

 

Wash well with some dilute sodium bicarbonate (bicarbonate of soda, baking soda), rinse well with COPIOUS amounts of water, distilled water rinse and dry it out. VerdiCare works great if you have some.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_sesquicarbonate

 

Going to order some but don't have any on hand.
Will try the baking soda surely I have that. Have distilled water

 

It was one of my first ancient coins so I probably hadn't heard of it before.
I didnt have with the bulk of my coins. Since you say it can affect silver do I need to worry about those? Most (several hundred) of my coins are late 1700''s to early 1900''s U.S & world coins, mostly silver.

 

Once you get below 80% silver (ie. Around the time of Septimius Severus and forward) yes, I would inspect the silver denarii and double denarii at least once a year for BD. And definitely inspect all provincial silver, as a lot of it is actually billion containing around 50% silver only. The base metal in them can get BD.

 

Ok, what about Liberties dollars dimes, quarters half bust, walking, seated ect... Most years worth of my coins. I've only a couple dozen ancients new to them. Have a couple that have a tiny spot on them. I definitely want to save those. The rest show no signs.

 

No need to worry about the modern silver coins.

 

smojo, treat with the distilled water while you wait for your verdicare to show up. i scrape off all the loose stuff i can with something soft, then soak in water for a couple day, repeat with fresh water until verdicare shows up. then dry hardcore and treat.

keep us posted!

 

double post again sorry!

 

Thanks everyone.
The coin that had a tiny spot I'm guessing is a mineral, it's hard. I'm thankful because it's a favorite. The one in the OP I tried Kentucky''s idea with baking soda most came off then I made a paste out of it, let the coin set. I just checked it I don't see anything. The damage left behind is noticeable.
Will treat with verdicare when it gets here & keep an eye on them.
Hard lesson learned, could've been worse.
Grateful to hear don't need to worry about moderns. Been collecting them on & off most my life, that would be devastating.

 

What exactly are you basing this on? How many times have you actually seen this happen in a week or less? What was the environment? That must have been some green, powdery, piece of corroded metal to crumble away in a week. IMHO, this is nonsense! I cannot wait for all the "horror" stories to get posted here in defense of this statement.

BTW, I've conserved many, many ancients and I'll give you this. On rare occasion, I believe I may have seen a tiny, insignificant bit of change to some coins in a short period of time while they were still in their flips in a desiccator. Otherwise, I just imagined it.

 

I may have read somewhere, can't recall where now, about an ancient coin where a severe case of untreated BD ate through from one side to another in 2 weeks, and this being the Internet... which is prone to exaggerations, I shortened the period by one week for dramatic effect (which seemed like a good idea after drinking three glasses of Margarita this evening), and presto...you now have Super BD that will eat your coins in one week.

Please accept my apologies. Once Bacchus got a hold of me, I may have gotten a little carried away.