Advice Needed on Preventing Tarnish in Long-Term Silver Storage

Good Cents - you're asking a lot of questions, that's a good thing ! But even better than that you're asking them before you do something, as opposed to asking after you have already done it. Boy ! If people would only do that before they purchase coins, instead of after they purchase coins - they'd be a whole lot happier a whole lot more of the time !

As for answers to your questions, about all I can do is give you my opinion because I've never used Ball or Mason jars for coin storage. But that doesn't mean I don't anything about them. When I was raised, they were used every year, year after year, for food storage. And for that purpose they work very, very well. And if memory serves correctly they've been used, and used effectively, for that purpose for well over 100 years. That all by itself says a whole lot about the system. It is also the only system readily available to ordinary people.

To go from there, all one has to do is understand one simple principle, just like air is the primary enemy of food, air is also the primary enemy of coins. Once you know that much, then you know how to combat that enemy, and it's quite simple - keep the air away from them. And Ball and Mason jars have proven to do that do that quite well.

Size of the jars would be immaterial, the only things that matter are that they are made of glass, which is not air permeable, and have an airtight seal. Metal lids vs glass lids - either one will work, but since metal can corrode over time it's seems quite logical that glass would be the better choice for very long periods of time. Life expectancy of the seals ? It is limited, certainly for years but how many I can't say, but they are easily checked and replaced. I can say that over time the rubber seals become hard, brittle, and lose their elasticity. Once they start to do that you need to replace them.

Other things you need to consider, only inert materials can go inside the jars with the coins. And if you aren't sure which materials are inert and which ones are not - then ask. I recommended Air-Tite brand coin holders for three reasons, they are the smallest, the least expensive, and quite effective at protecting the coins from contact with anything else, including other coins. Could you put slabs and other hard plastic holders inside the jars ? Yeah, you could, but how many ?

Lastly what about the air inside the jars ? Well, there's not a whole lot you can do about it. Sure, you could small silica gel packs inside each jar, but would that really help ? I mean it would absorb what little moisture is in the air inside the jar when it is sealed - but it would still be trapped inside the jar, if you get my point. So there might be some benefit to that but I rather think it would be small, so probably not worth worrying about. There is no such thing as a perfect system.

In the end that's really about all one needs to know.

Personally, I would never go to the extent of using Ball and Mason jars. I've known about them for basically as long as I've been alive, and I started collecting coins in 1960 at the age of 7 to put that into perspective. And yet I still never used them. Why ? Because I found my other methods effective enough, and a whole lot easier, cheaper, and more practical.

But the choice is there for those who wish to go that route.