Another question about storing coins...

Longacre

I read a recent post about storing coins in a safe deposit box. Someone mentioned that having rubber bands in the box will emit sulphur (?) and cause the coins in the box to tone. What about paper in the box? For example, with my coins I have important papers, and also things like old proofsets with paper wrappers. Will the mere presence of all of the paper in the box cause the coins to tone as well?

MrSpud

Here is too much information from a chapter called "Other Degradative Materials" from the Coin Preservation Handbook by Charles Frank.

"In general, cellulosic materials, such as paper and cardboard, have an extremely high affinity for moisture, are poor gas and water vapor barriers, and act as nutrients for organisms such as fungi, bacteria, yeasts, algae, and protozoa; to insects such as silverfish, firebrats, roaches, termites, and bookworms; and to rodents. In addition, paper and cardboard contain substantial amounts of sulfur, which is employed in the manufacturing process. In use, the compounding of moisture and sulfur produces sulfur dioxide, which can be readily oxidized to harmful sulfuric acid.

The fibrous raw materials for paper and cardboard manufacture are wood, waste paper, cotton and linen rags (both old and new), straw, old rope, and cotton linters. The most important nonfibrous raw materials are lime, sodium silicate, salt cake, sulfur, chlorine, limestone, precipitated calcium carbonate, titanium pigments, talc, blanc fixe, clay, alum, rosin dyestuffs, soda ash, and caustic soda, as well as various other resinous materials, startch, pigments, and sizes. the high moisture absorption rate of paper and cardboard can stimulate chemical reactions with many of these ingredients to form harmful acids and alkalies.

Regretfully, many popular coin books, bookshelf coin albums, coin boxes, coin envelopes, and coin holders, employ sulfurized paper or paper products. In superhumid, humid, and semihumid climates, these materials contribute substantially to the deterioration of coins. The following materials are extremely susceptible to moisture, reactive gases, and biological attack, and numismatists are cautioned to avoid their use unless suitably treated against moisture and biological attack:

1. Paper and cardboard
2. Cotton
3. Linen
4. Jute
5. Wood
6. Leather
7. Hair and wool felts
8. Organic fiberboard"