Tom, Thanks for the quick reply. Insight is much appreciated and I don't think I will be adding any silica tabs/gel. Laimbeer4452
Greetings, This is my first post and I look forward to participating in the community. I am relatively new to the coin/bullion "addiction" and have built a nice collection thus far (500 oz silver bullion, 90% coins, etc) and have completely outgrown my safe. I will be getting a SDB tomorrow to store most of it and purchased a product named "Aluminum Canister 40 Grams Indicating Silica Gel". Will this offer me the protection needed in a 10X10X17 SDB? Thanks so much for your insight and feedback. laimbeer4452
Thanks, Outkast. Started back in October as an investment and eventual hand off to my son ( in 17 years) who just turned one. At this pace I should have 15K oz in 17 years....that should pay for Harvard, right? God help us all if it doesn't!!
If you are storing bullion in a safe deposit box then I see no reason whatsoever to add a desicant. They should be fine just the way they are. I also store my bullion in several safe deposit boxes and I store more than you do by weight. Over the years I have had nothing happen to my bullion where I thought I should have used a desicant.
The question is - storing gold or silver? For gold there's no real problem with humidity, but for silver there is a definite effect. Safe deposit vaults are generally maintained at relatively high humidity levels for the protection of the paper which represents a substantial percentage of material stored. If I were storing silver at the bank I'd have just as much desiccant as I do in my underground safe, and I would refresh it just as often.
Most people don't realize that the problem with tarnishing, toning, corroding, etc. on most metals is in part due to moisture. Moisture in the air, HUMIDITY, is everywhere naturally and we all attempt to remove as much as possible for many reasons, usually medical, not prevervation of coins. If you check your banks they mostly all today have air conditioning systems that remove much of the humidity in the banks. These systems are on most of the time so the humidity in all parts of a bank is really low. By all parts this includes the save deposit areas. Some people, for some reason, think humidity is added to those areas but that is completely not true, illogical, rediculous. No bank would spend the money on separate HVAC systems in one building.
Gents, Thanks a lot for the insight. To answer one's question, it is silver that I am storing in the SDB...mostly 1-10 oz bars, ASE's, Maples, and generic rounds. All are in airtites (except for the bars) or in Whitman 2X2s. My investment time line is very long (17 years or so) so storing them and keeping them nice looking is important, at least to me. Thanks again! Laimbeer4452
Well, us retired bank vice presidents certainly aren't as knowledgeable as you, especially those of us who weren't in the operations end of things. Nevertheless, my experience teaches that steps are frequently taken to maintain a somewhat higher humidity in the vault than in the lobby. BTW haven't you ever heard of zoned A/C?
So...is there at least partial agreement that at best the "Aluminum Canister 40 Grams Indicating Silica Gel" that I purchased at best protects my silver and at worst, well, does nothing at all? The prevailing thought in my mind is that if it won't hurt but can help, then why not. Limbeer4452
I keep two desiccants in my SDB. I have had the SDB about three years now and check the coins for changes every few months. No problems to date. I also store most of my coins in Intercept Shield boxes. These storage items are relatively inexpensive. Good luck.
I think you are likely to do just as well by wraping the bullion in heavy duty Glad bags. However, as long as you periodically check your desicant and recharge it as necessary at home in the oven, it should be absolutely harmless. My previous post did not give the details of my safe deposit box storage so I will share some here. My coins that are certified are kept in individual Intercept Shield boxes and these individual boxes are placed into larger Intercept Shield boxes designed to hold ten coins. These are then wrapped in heavy Glad bags. My bullion has never been stored in anything designed to inhibit toning and I have had my bullion (gold and silver) in there for over a decade with no issues whatsoever. The only three bullion pieces that toned at all over this time frame were kept in less than ideal holders in that one was kept in a copper pouch and two were kept in snug cardboard holders.
