Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents.

otlichnik · 01-21-2003, 02:59 AM

Kabanchik,

You are absolutely right. Mothalls do seem to accelerate patina development - I would say by as much as a factor of 10!

Two comments. First, never seal uniforms. They MUST breath. When I store mine I have them in a suitcase hanger or a plastic wrap (like from a dy cleaners). But, the plastic is completely open at the bottom and the suitcase hanger has the bottom portion of the zipper open. Sealing them can get you lots of mould and mildew problems, etc. I would suspect that silver on uniforms sealed with mothballs tarnish more than those unsealed.

Second, there is an alternative to mothballs - red cedar. Moths hate the smell of red cedar. In Canada and the northern US (maybe Europe too) people have used chests linned with red cedar for storing blankets and clothing for hundreds of years. The pioneers did it.

When I lived with my collection all I used were lots of red cedar balls and hangers in the closet with my tunics and even under hats on display. However, I must admit that when I sealed stuff up for its three year storage while I am here in Bosnia I added both red cedar and mothballs to be extra safe.

Shawn

View Poll Results: Repair or not
Leave the damn thing alone! Don't mess with what looks like a period repair	12	54.55%
Have the solder removed to make the serial number readable	9	40.91%
Repair the enamel only	0	0%
Remove the solder AND repair the enamel	1	4.55%
Voters: 22. You may not vote on this poll

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01-21-2003, 02:59 AM	#11
otlichnik Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Canada Age: 56 Posts: 547	Kabanchik, You are absolutely right. Mothalls do seem to accelerate patina development - I would say by as much as a factor of 10! Two comments. First, never seal uniforms. They MUST breath. When I store mine I have them in a suitcase hanger or a plastic wrap (like from a dy cleaners). But, the plastic is completely open at the bottom and the suitcase hanger has the bottom portion of the zipper open. Sealing them can get you lots of mould and mildew problems, etc. I would suspect that silver on uniforms sealed with mothballs tarnish more than those unsealed. Second, there is an alternative to mothballs - red cedar. Moths hate the smell of red cedar. In Canada and the northern US (maybe Europe too) people have used chests linned with red cedar for storing blankets and clothing for hundreds of years. The pioneers did it. When I lived with my collection all I used were lots of red cedar balls and hangers in the closet with my tunics and even under hats on display. However, I must admit that when I sealed stuff up for its three year storage while I am here in Bosnia I added both red cedar and mothballs to be extra safe. Shawn

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