Hi all, Hoping those of you more experienced with BD'ed coins can tell me if and how infected this one may be, and in any case what I can do about it. The green stuff doesn't seem soft or come off when I brush it, but is clearly in pits below the surface rather than above it. I've had the coin for some weeks now and at the moment I don't even dare keep it near my other coins. Z.
I've seen many recommendations regarding treatment. Lost a coin recently from BD. Rather, it's in the process of being lost and everything I've done just seems to accelerate the process. Fortunately it's a prutah and not a particularly rare one, came from a larger lot and I knew it was affected when I bought it. The speed of its disintegration has been shocking. Good luck with this one, hope it doesn't meet the same fate.
Get some Verdi-Care, follow the directions. Then store the coin properly. That's about the best you can do. While the Verdi-Care will probably not remove all of the verdigris, it will remove a lot of it. And what remains will stay inactive with proper storage, for as long as you cut off the source of moisture, verdigris stays inactive.
I would follow Doug's advise. Its possible its BD, its possible its not. A coin will not be harmed using Verdicare. One other thing I would add would be after treatment and proper drying, I like to put a coat of Ren Wax on mine. I figure it creates a moisture barrier.
From the photo I can tell its BD. Verdi-care may not help as I used it on a caligula I had and even with proper drying, the BD was still growing. Thankfully I sent the coin back and got a rebate and even better, got a better caligula at the same price, BD free.
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll likely keep a close watch on the coin for awhile more before going with the Verdi-care. The green seems hard rather than fuzzy and hasn't progressed in the few weeks the coin has been with me. I don't have a bottle of Verdi-care on hand anyway and will have to order one. The coin didn't look quite as suspect in the auction catalog picture as it does in mine, but honestly I should have just looked at it closer before bidding. No more impulse bidding and late night auctions for me (not together anyway). Z.
till you get your verdi-care zumbly, may want to put it in some distilled water for several days, rub at the soft BD with a toopick, put back in fresh water, repeat util your verdicare shows up. i'd bake it at 190 F for 15 minutes when done also. it's a great coin, i hope you can save it.
I'm sorry, but putting the coin in water is about the worst thing you could do. Water will only accelerate or reactivate the verdigris and make the corrosion worse than it is. Verdigris, or bronze disease if that's what you prefer to call it, cannot even occur without moisture. The best thing you can do is keep the coin as dry as possible, and that includes protecting it from the humidity in the air.
I have to disagree Doug. Many experienced collectors advise to put BD coins in distilled water. The trick is what do you do with it once you remove it from the water. NEVER just take it out fo the water and let it sit. But, a long bath in distilled water, followed by a pat dry and then treatment with verdicare or baking in a low temp oven is a great treatment. What putting the coin in distilled water does is lowers the concentration of the acids on the coin's surface, making other treatments easier to administer. So yes, I agree NEVER just put it in distilled water and then take it out and leave it alone. All you do there is spread the BD around the coin. But, distilled water soaks combined with other treatements ARE effective. BD will spread in the presence of moisture, but not soaking in water. I have put coins with BD in distilled water, and not ONCE has the BD spread while the coin was completely soaking in the water.
We notice that part of the problem with BD is that no two of us agree on what to do. I would do nothing unless I can see any sign of soft green material or a change in the coin. I am not 100% convinced that the coin has BD. Certainly it should be checked daily. When it comes to drying a coin, I have a south facing window that I have placed coins in need of drying on the sill where they get quite hot. If I see what I consider to be BD (soft and progressing) I use Sodium sesquicarbonate (does that happen to be the active ingredient in Verdicare?) and am on the opinion that removing BD is more important than preserving patina (especially on a coin that has an ugly patina to start with). The one statement that I fully agree with on all of this is: I only wish I could control my impulse buying at any time of day.
I agree with this statement. It looks more like hard mineral deposit from the image, but only you, Zumbly, can tell for sure since you have it in hand.
When looking at the OP photo I see BD but I also just see spots that are just green patina. My bad caligula had that. Some of it was hard and OK but just spotty and other spots its was fuzzy and wided easily with my thumb. So I think the coin is a mix of both. And if this was me, I wouldnt have bid on the coin either. Anytime I see any green like that whether its spotty patina or possible BD, I just stay away. I would rather have a lower grade detailed coins then spotty patina w/ possible BD.
Thanks for the additional input, everyone. I've not been doing anything to the coin since I received it because I wasn't sure if it was in fact BD. I wanted to see if there would be any noticeable "spread" of the green stuff or further deterioration of the coin before acting, but after awhile I realized I didn't even know what kind of continued effects I was supposed to be observing, or how long it would take (days, weeks, months?)... hence this post. I guess for now I'll keep watch on it and compare it to the original photograph every couple of days, even though the obverse really isn't pleasant to look at. And now I'll just go look at AJ's Titus colosseum sestertius again. Z.
it is gutting when this happens, i bought what looked like a lovely siberian polushka which became a ball of verdigris before my eyes, it had obviously been stored in an unstable environment and a potential £95 coin is now scrap, i paid £5 for it and have contacted the seller who has not even deemed to answer my email..
Unfortunately there are quite a few sellers who believe using a brown marker is preferable to actually treating the BD. I have had coins come to me, and other friends, that mysteriously get BD on their own. This is even though they were stored properly and away from any BD carriers. Turns out, if you soak then in distilled water, the water turns brown.
