The Storage Mistake That Is Damaging Your Beloved Silver Pieces

There's nothing more exciting than getting out your fine china and best silverware in preparation for a party or big family gathering. But if you go to pull out your silver cutlery and servingware that's been stored with newspapers and rubber bands, only to find that it's tarnished beyond belief, you're taking away precious pre-party prep time to polish them up. If that's where you're finding yourself, you can prevent having to polish your silver the Martha Stewart way and avoid tarnishing in the first place with proper storage. Using newspapers and rubber bands to hold your silver when you're not using it may be common, but it's actually doing more harm than good.

Silver, whether it's your grandmother's earrings or your beloved serving platter, is prone to tarnishing, which is a chemical reaction most commonly caused when silver comes into contact with hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide. With this in mind, there are much better ways to keep your silver safe and shiny for years to come than with rubber bands and newspaper.

Newspaper itself isn't usually the problem when it comes to storage; it's the ink on the paper that will tarnish your silver and remove the plating. Printer's ink has traditionally been acidic, and acids are another common factor in tarnishing. Meanwhile, rubber bands are often made with sulfur compounds — another culprit in tarnishing and corroding silver, even through multiple layers of paper or fabric. Silver can be tarnished by many different things; contact with foods like salad dressings, salt, eggs, and olives can blacken your dishes, but certain compounds in the air can also lead to tarnishing.

When it comes to extending the life and maintaining the shine of your silver, proper storage techniques are the name of the game. Store your silver wrapped in flannel or another soft fabric that has not been treated with chemicals. To protect the silver from humidity, which can also tarnish it, store the wrapped pieces in airtight plastic bags or tubs (but don't store it directly in the plastic without silver-friendly wrapping first). Experts also recommend using silica gel packets and anti-tarnish strips to remove moisture from the air inside whatever silver storage you choose.

Luckily for those who have been using the wrong storage method up until now, tarnishing isn't permanent, and you can easily clean your silver with some unexpected household ingredients. Or invest in a silver cloth, which is an affordable way to make your silver shine like new.