Does this look like bronze disease?

[Ioseff]

I don't really have any experience with identifying bronze disease, but this coin I received looks like it could possibly be afflicted with it.

Does this look like bronze disease? Do I need to do anything about it at this stage if it is or should I just observe and see if it spreads?

[Arados]

It certainly looks like bronze disease, would you say the infected area is powdery or hard like enamel ?

[Ioseff]

Gentle poking with a wooden toothpick does seem to produce small green flakes. I'm guessing it's most likely bronze disease then which is unfortunate as I quite liked this coin! Should I remove it, soak in distilled water, dry thoroughly, and observe? Searching here seems to give quite a bit of conflicting information so it's hard to know where to start before doing something drastic!

[Molinari]

Distilled water will only make the situation worse at this point, since moisture is what activates the reaction.  You could treat with sodium-sesquicarbonate (sp?), which will neutralize the reaction and leave those spots red and hard. Or you could brush it off really well (with a dry brass brush) and see if it returns.  I've done that on a couple and they've remained stable for years.

[Ioseff]

Thank you for the advice!

If I were to thoroughly brush off the BD and the coin remained stable over a period of a few weeks or months, would it ever be safe to store it with other coins (I use trays) or would there always be a risk in doing so?

[Arados]

I would quarantine your coin for a period of 6-12 months after treatment. Hopefully your coin will remain stable but i would periodically check for new signs of BD.

[Ioseff]

Thanks, I'll do that and keep my fingers crossed!

[ickster]

Thanks, I'll do that and keep my fingers crossed!

There are a few threads you can pull up from the boards here. Many contain good advice about treating/slowing BD. Use "Treating BD" in the discussion search function.

[Ioseff]

Thanks, I'll do that and keep my fingers crossed!

There are a few threads you can pull up from the boards here. Many contain good advice about treating/slowing BD. Use "Treating BD" in the discussion search function.

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll be sure to take a look! For now I want to try and avoid doing anything too drastic that could potentially harm the coin and just wait and see if it resurfaces before trying anything else.