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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1911741, member: 19463&quot;]In the defense of the seller:&nbsp; Some of us get very tired of hearing about bronze disease whenever a coin is shown that has a green spot on it.&nbsp; Bronze disease is a very specific situation where there is a powdery green with erosion underneath.&nbsp; There are, at present, a rather large group of Chinese cash making the rounds that have a blue patina that is not BD so I would not be too quick to say without seeing the items whether I believed this is real or &#039;cry wolf&#039; BD.&nbsp; Certainly BD is a real problem and certain cleaning methods seem to make certain coins more prone to it than others.&nbsp; BD is much more common today than it was years ago and is not something to be taken lightly but neither is the tendency of some to see it where it is not.&nbsp; Obviously there are people who know more about coins and photography who feel comfortable diagnosing it from photos than I do AND I see nothing wrong with beginners just walking away from a BD leper when there is any doubt.&nbsp; What I would not do is try to convince a seller that you know all when you are in the stage of the process where you are avoiding anything green, blue or whatever.&nbsp;&nbsp; Even if you are right, it is unlikely you will convince the guy who cleans his own and knows everything anyway.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The sure sign of BD is when you remove it all and it comes back.&nbsp; When I clean a coin with real or suspected BD, it gets put in a special place (quarantined) and is examined at least weekly for a year.&nbsp; I currently have four coins in quarantine including one tough case that I have treated several times for recurrences that will probably never be put back in the general population even though it is now over six months since its last treatment.&nbsp; Patina does not get greener or bigger just sitting there when you see a coin again and again.&nbsp; BD does.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The other thing that is green and grows is when you put coins in the soft plastic flips and store them in damp conditions (or without proper drying after cleaning).&nbsp; I have seen massive green slime from this as well and even bought a few coins which were savable.&nbsp; BD is dry; flip slime is not.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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