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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;MrSpud, post: 98266, member: 4621&quot;]You can order small humidity indicating cards to monitor the humidity levels in containers and change out or recharge the dessicant when the humidity is found to have risen. The cards have round circles on them next to humidity values. When the color turns from blue to pink next to whatever humidity you are concerned with (40% or less humidity is desired, but it is possible to stay under 30% in a closed glass jar with a good lid). Another approach that protects as well as indicates that you should be concerned is to put a few shiny new copper cents unprotected into the container. If you notice the cents starting to turn brown, you have humidity and/or corrosive chemicals trapped in the container with your coins. Because your coins are in some holder that (hopefully) provides a little extra protection the unholdered copper coins will be attacked quicker and can give you early warning that something is wrong. The copper also protects the other coins because clean copper is more reactive than most other metals and will effectively absorb the corrosive agents out of the air and lock it onto the coins surface. I take this idea one step further and use sheets of copper foil instead of cents. It works the same but is better because you can recharge the copper by sanding its surface creating a highly pure copper surface that is very reactive to corrosive agents. Intercept shield products work in a similar matter. Early versions were copper powder impregnated into plastic, the more recent versions are basically copper powder impregnated into absorbant polymers that are then incorporated into cardboard (I believe acid free cardboard) and formed into boxes, albums, etc... Supposedly the intercept is theorized to be able to protect the coins for up to 10 years before the copper powder becomes too saturated with corrosive agents to become innefective. For my copper foil strips, I plan on recharging them once a year by resanding the surface to keep it reactive indefinately. If I notice any of the strips to be darker than what is in the other containers, I&#039;ll know that something is wrong in that particular container and I&#039;ll change the dessicant and/or remove whatever I think is causing the corrosion. Otherwise I will sand the copper strip and put it back and reclose the container.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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