I Think This May Be Bd

Certainly looks like it, pitted, light green, flakey. Stick it into some distilled / de-ionised water. It hasn't done a lot of damage yet so with a bit of treatment the coin could be fine.

What is in the wreath at 12 O clock?

And how long should it stay in the distilled water?

Thats the $64,000 question!

Some people soak them for months - essentially all your doing is diluting the harmful elements in the coin that cause the disease. After about 24 hours the green spots could just rub off but that does not mean that the soak has diluted the elements inside the coin enough to stop the process from re-occurring.

Every coin is different and depending on how valuable and how little you want to damage the coin with practices like scraping at the affected areas should determine how long you leave it.

I seem to have something soaking all the time these days!


Change the water every now and then as it helps and 'play it by ear' so to speak.

So I figure mine shouldn't take too long soaking in distilled, since it appears to be just a mild case?

How obvious is renaissance wax when it's applied on a coin? Does it make it look really glossy or something? Probably a dumb question but I'm just curious.

I wouldn't be of any help with that lol. I suck at chemistry.

On further reflection about using Renaissance Wax.

I asked various people about it, never receiving an answer as though it might have been a stupid question. Who knows, really. But anyways; this is what I learned about using it.

It's not a good idea to coat a coin that has a lot of dirt on it. If you want the dirt and the way it looks, might not be a good idea to use the wax. I haven't tried using the wax on a coin that has a desert patina.

Clean the coin well enough as you normally would, carefully too. Then apply the wax, maybe. If the coin is not done being cleaned, don't apply the wax because you may not be able to remove it easily. From what I've read, applying the wax could be permanent.

Which leads me to question how long this wax would hold up over the next 1000 years or so. Just like I would question any substance or plastic that has been applied to the coin, or surrounding the coin. Such as modern coin encapsulation slabs.

The wax doesn't come with instructions. At least my can did not. For a particular coin that I used it on, that had been lightly cleaned. I used a Q-Tip, applying the wax evenly, not using too much or not enough. I let it dry for about 15 minutes and then used a soft cotton cloth to "buff" the coin as though it was a car. Buffing in a slight circular motion, but gently.