Well, this has certainly been interesting...
I started by soaking this coin in BD killer and gently scrubbing the
reverse once a day. After a few days, I changed the solution and started again. Then I forgot it for about 3 days and when I pulled it out of the solution for a gentle scrub, all the blue was back and then some! It seemed to be growing in the deep pits that I was having trouble getting to. In addition, the color of the
reverse seemed to have faded??? Anyway, despite the fact that I didn't want to touch this coin until I developed more skill, I thought it
had so be rescued... so I took a deep breath and decided that I
had to try to get rid of some of the deep pits.
I've spent a
bit of time on it, but not a
ton and have it down to this. The
pink crusties have been weird. In some areas, they are hard and crusty to get off. In others, the best way I can describe it is that it is like when the dentist finds a softer spot on the tooth and the
sharp instrument sinks in a
bit and sticks. In those areas, the
pink seems to smear around more than scrape off. Is that where the BD is??? or is my mind just being "creative" again.
I don't know why some of the edges became so damaged/shiny. Those were the areas I really didn't touch. It has now been sitting on the window sill for about a week... so far no new blue areas. I do live in a dry
area, so it may take longer to see if it
comes back.
After this novel... here are my questions:
1) Should I quit here? I know a lot of people recommended cleaning this... is there more I should do?
2) The
obverse still looks the same as before and is, in my eyes, a pretty black. Since the
reverse has faded so much, and since there are so many damaged areas, is it safe to put jax black on it to make it look decent and more like the
obverse? Obviously, it wouldn't stop BD, but would it hide it so that it could cause more damage without my knowing?
As always, I appreciate your time and
help!