Hello all, I am starting to collect ASEs and sometimes I go for the burnished ones. I want to buy these and put them away for a few years. Do you think putting a desiccant in each box will help? Or, will this desiccant hurt the coins over the years? I'm pretty sure a desiccant won't have any weird chemical effect on the coin over the years, but I wanted to ask the experts. Thoughts?
A proper desiccant would not harm the coin ....unless one forgets to either recharge it or exchange it. New, they take water out of the air, but they are chemically limit to the amount. Many have a moisture indicator in them to indicate this point, but some do not. When the reach their limit they become a pool of moisture the keeps replenishing the humidity and possibly affecting the coins until removed. If one doesn't check/change the unit, a desiccant is worse than none.
yeah, I'm just using the little throw away kind. They are about 2 inches by 2 inches. My goal is replace them once a year.
Do so. No downside, although it ought to be in conjunction with an airtight container so there won't be air exchange while it's sitting. The atmosphere itself is a greater problem than humidity, although the latter makes the former worse. Many people (myself included) are fans of vacuum packing.
Yes, I am using airtights. And the burnished ones already come in the airtights. So I should be good.
No vacuum is "perfect;" Airtights are as good as any. Just don't encapsulate them downwind of an active volcano.
