interesting daveyd.....does it every return or get worse after you've treated your coins with olive oil?
I`ve never had it return. I`ve also done ancients too after finding them fresh from the local fields when metal detecting. I have no ancients to show as I don`t collect them,I usually sell them at the antique fair.
I have had a roman coin in, what I just realized, is Extra Virgin Olive Oil. :-0 I now have what looks like pitting, down to a bronze color metal on a few areas of my roman Philipi II coin?! Is this Bronze Disease and could the EVOO cause this. Also looks like the details are gone in those areas…:-( Any ideas at all from anyone out there!!!
A photo would help quite a bit. Bronze disease is usually a greenish mess on a copper/bronze coin. It sounds like you are removing the exterior and exposing the bare coin metal, but just conjecture based on the description. Welcome to the forum!
Agree with @desertgem. Show a couple of images (a picture is worth a thousand words). BTW, welcome to CT
This is not the reason behind using distilled. Most Waters over the counter or out of a tab contain harsh chemicals like fluoride which massively effects the metals in coins. It will strip away any stuck-on grime just fine but it penetrates further into the metal making the coin far more susceptible to bronze disease and as soon as the coins dry the grime is broken down so much better that it is a powder form and will almost assuredly give you bronze disease in your collection. It's well worth $25 a gallon if it must be paid to go with distilled. If you're just cleaning the change out of your car tap water will work just fine, otherwise, with your pricey stuff might want to take care of them in a pricey way.
Also, extra virgin olive oil does not contain the fatty acids theater in all of the other oils they add in with most olive oil. If you do use olive oil make sure it's 100% extra virgin olive oil, again, pricey issues deserve privacy Solutions.
This is what I use to clean my coins : Even Frank Sinatra called it “the Nectar of the Gods”. The advantage is that you can reuse it after soaking your coins. It’s an excellent antibacterial and you can brush your teeth with it. Whiskey is also low-carb and fat-free and can help prevent cancer for your bronze specimen. And don’t forget if you live in Canada, even below-freezing temperatures won't freeze it. But the main reason for using it : no other soaking technique is funnier than this one...