[TheForge] a precious metal storage question

[Andrew Vida]

Is this investment material?  Get a good safe, and I mean a proper one, 
vis-a-vis these pseudo-safes such as what are commonly used for gun storage.

JOhnson's paste wax is a quick and dirty way to keep the atmosphere off.

Argentium is more recent alloy that greatly resists tarnish.  I have not 
used it ever, but the extra expense does not seem justifiable to me.

I will also tell you that fine silver tarnishes far less than does 
sterling.  Back when I used to keep silver on hand by the pounds, the 
fine never tarnished whereas the sterling would start to patinate.

If the silver is not for investment purposes and annealing is not a 
problem, you can bring the metal to dull red and quench in No.2 Sparex. 
  The metal will come out with a very white, almost satiny-frosty cast. 
  That is a layer of fine silver left after the torch burned the copper 
from the surface.

As for plating, unless there is a compelling reason to do it, you are 
wasting your money.  Tarnish is not that big a deal.  It will not 
threaten the bulk of the metal and it will not diminish value of the 
commodity.

On 6/12/2012 10:37 AM, terry l. ridder wrote:
> hello;
>
> i assume that there is a way to store sterling silver in such a way to
> prevent the tarnishing of the silver by air pollution mostably hydrogen
> sulfide and other sulfur containing materials. one silversmith just
> suggested wrapping the items in a material that contains an element that
> has a greater affinity for sulfur than the silver. he did not offer any
> suggestions as to what that may be. another silversmith suggested taking
> the tarnished silver items and placing them into a large enough
> container to hold them, preferrably glass container. place aluminum foil
> in the container suspended by alligator clips which are attached to a
> wood dowel that is positioned across the top the glass container. fill
> the glass tank with hot to warm water and table salt. basically, you are
> making a weak battery. the silver sulfide, which is the tarnish releases
> the sulfur which is attracted to the aluminum. he demostrated this using
> a 50 gallon fish tank, silverware, hot water, and i would say close to a
> half pound of table salt. by morning the silverware was bright as ever
> and the aluminum did not look that different.
>
> when i asked about preventing the tarnish to being with he offered
> little insight. short of storing it away in purple velvet bags with are
> treated with anti-tarnishing agents and not placed on display there is
> no easy way. when i mentioned i would like to have the silver items on
> display he suggested a positive pressure glass display case which uses
> filtered air to maintain a higher pressure in the display case than
> outside the display case. the filter unit is specifically designed to
> trap hydrogen sulfide gas and prevent it from entering the display case.
>
> a third silversmith has suggested plating the pieces with white gold,
> platinum, or palladium. they will not tarnish and the thin plating will
> protect the silver. the least expensive plating would be palladium.
>
> are there other suggestions.
>