Hi all My only Caesar coin (AE Assarius - Augustus struck under Tiberius) randomly broke out in bronze disease. It's a fairly mild case at this stage, but I understand it gets progressively worse. Is there a fairly straight forward way to treat it at home? I read somewhere that I can brush off the affected areas, and soak it in distilled water for 2 weeks (changing the water every few days), and then reseal it in wax. Is that correct? Or do I have to order special chemicals? Advice would be appreciated!
I use distilled water and pick at it with a toothpick and then the water again. Most of the time it works. I don't use wax. I've read it can trap moisture and make it worse.
So you just get rid of it all, and then it should stop? Also, do you soak it for weeks as mentioned above?
Yes, i've even done it for 2 months straight a few times. It really depends on the coin. When you take it out, put it someplace where you can remember and just check it every few days and if BD returns, back in the water it goes.
After distilled water and physical removal of the BD, it may be a good idea to finish the process with Verdi Care
I like to bake coins after treatment at 200 degrees for an hour or so to remove all moisture. Moisture plus chlorine is the enemy. I also like using verdicare for mild cases and as a preventative. John
I had a thread on bronze disease here...https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-first-case-of-bronze-disease.283504/ and successfully treated it, has other members input to if you are interested.
The only thing I'd add is to make absolutely sure that the BD is completely gone before you seal it. I would set it out, check it periodically, and wait at least three or even six months before sealing it in RenWax.
I gave you a "Like" because I appreciate your post and not because I like the fact that your having a bronze disease problem. Sorry about your coin! Do you live in a maritime region? (near the ocean)
Here is when I stopped using wax on coins. The coin in the pics below was treated for BD using distilled water, baking, then waxing. The BD came back under the wax in a couple of months. I retreated the coin but applied Verdi-care instead of wax, here is the result. It still looks like this today, about 3 years later, I just checked it.
