Hello everyone:
I'm not sure if it's just me, coincidence, the right timing for it's eventual emergence, or something else entirely. However, it seems that I'm seeing the dreaded zinc pest more and more often these days. Tt seems that the majority of zinc badges, awards, medals, etc. I've seen wherever lately have been infected with the pest somewhere, obverse and/or reverse, a little or a lot.
Again, maybe it's just getting to the point in history (60+ years later) when most Third Reich era zinc becomes exponentially more and more susceptible. Or again, maybe it's just that I've seen more and more of these offered for sale lately in this condition, at least by coincidence.
At this point, we can, of course, still carefully select pieces which have remained unaffected. We can still avoid the affected ones, and collect only the remaining healthy specimens out there. However, I see a point soon enough, when we will no longer have such a luxury. Whereas we often avoid them now, soon enough, we may be just as happy to find one that still exists at all. Soon enough, it will not be an issue of whether or not a piece has the pest, but rather how much of the pest it does have. Acceptable levels of a terminal disease may be necessary to continue collecting at all.
Chris
I'm not sure if it's just me, coincidence, the right timing for it's eventual emergence, or something else entirely. However, it seems that I'm seeing the dreaded zinc pest more and more often these days. Tt seems that the majority of zinc badges, awards, medals, etc. I've seen wherever lately have been infected with the pest somewhere, obverse and/or reverse, a little or a lot.
Again, maybe it's just getting to the point in history (60+ years later) when most Third Reich era zinc becomes exponentially more and more susceptible. Or again, maybe it's just that I've seen more and more of these offered for sale lately in this condition, at least by coincidence.
At this point, we can, of course, still carefully select pieces which have remained unaffected. We can still avoid the affected ones, and collect only the remaining healthy specimens out there. However, I see a point soon enough, when we will no longer have such a luxury. Whereas we often avoid them now, soon enough, we may be just as happy to find one that still exists at all. Soon enough, it will not be an issue of whether or not a piece has the pest, but rather how much of the pest it does have. Acceptable levels of a terminal disease may be necessary to continue collecting at all.
Chris
As I have said before as time marches foward so does the pest. You never know what medal will show the pest next or if any will. I hate to say it. It's like that Russian roulette game. The best advice is to keep the humidity in line, keep affected ones isolated, and don't apply anything to them. Let the conservation people work on a possible solution if any. Paul
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