OT- Near disaster with "desiccants"

[itjclarke]

Wow, I feel a bit like Vincent and Jules (Pulp Fiction) after the little guy unloads on them. They check themselves, then each other, then realize every single bullet ended up in the wall behind them. I just went through my box of balls (3 dozen signed), packs, and a few cards.

Damaged- one blank MLB ball, and one blank 2012 WS ball. A couple soggy wax packs ('79, '80, etc)

Undamaged- ALL signed balls! Some felt a little damp to the touch, but given most all the ball boxes were soaked through, I feel beyond lucky!! They're airing out now with help of a fan.

I'm in awe. I do give much credit to the board however. At some point during the last 2 years, I took feedback from the board on how best to store autographed cards. My signed cards had all either been in cubes or wrapped in white paper inside the little cardboard MLB ball boxes.

After reading feedback on the board, I decided to wrap each in a little sandwich baggie inside their boxes or cubes and over top of the paper. This was a good move. Most of the ball boxes (seen below) were soaked completely through. The plastic baggies were wet, but the signed balls survived. Inexplicably 2 of the 3 or 4 blank balls took serious moisture damage, but NONE of my signed balls had noticeable marks.

The other really lucky part- the only reason I didn't use this crappy stuff in my safe deposit box is because I'd used it all up in my storage unit just prior. I would have preferred it for my safe deposit box because it's so cramped in there. I had actually thought about going back to my storage unit to get some beads to take back to the bank since the beads in the sacks would've fit nicely into the little cravasses/cracks inside my safe deposit. Good thing I didn't because I know it would have destroyed ALL the non graded contents. What could have turned into my worst day collecting is now a nice lesson--- don't ever take for granted that stuff will just work.. and be very thankful and appreciative when things work out.

I've posted a few pics to show how extensive the moisture from this "desiccant gone wild" truly was. Jay-- for piece of mind, probably not a bad idea to check your box. I will still post any product info I'm able get.

Soaked legal box, and individual baseball boxes (yellow were post it labels)
Wet cardboard box.jpgSoaked MLB ball boxes.jpg

Messed up blank MLB ball (seems actually split wide open), and perfectly white signed ball
Destroyed MLB ball.jpgPearly white signed ball.jpg

Airing balls out
Airing balls and cases out.jpg

[Al C.risafulli]

Whoa.

-Al

[edjs]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

Whoa.

-Al

Whoa is right, look at that MANTLE!!!!!! Sweet!

[Rickyy]

Wow Ian thanks for the heads up. It's good info to know...glad the damage was minimal....

Ricky Y

[Jobu]

I am glad you dodged a bullet. I am quite interested to learn which products you were using and which is the suspected culprit.

[itjclarke]

Ok to update- unfortunately she didn't have a brand name, but she had bought them at Walmart to try to pull moisture out of here phone when it had gotten wet. It sounds like they were supplied loose, to be added into bags.

They were small white beads, as opposed to the sort of opaque ones that sit inside the pouch in those cardboard boxed desiccants.

I'm gonna dig around on line tonight to see if anything matches by appearance. We may also still have some in a zip lock bag in our storage. I'll post pics if I find it. I wish I'd taken pics of the liquified desiccant, but I was 100% focused on getting to my safe deposit box at that point. It looked like a fine mud and it left puddles of water. It was really weird.

[SAllen2556]

If you'll pardon an amateur's question: You guys who have safety-deposit boxes for your most valuable cards, does it ever bum you out that you have to keep the stuff you'd most like to have around the house to show off stored away in a bank?
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have the same problem, but after seeing that picture with Mantle and company tucked away in a metal box, I couldn't help but wonder.

[Deertick]

Sounds like bath beads got mixed up with dessicant. Silica wouldn't liquefy. I'm happy that you caught it when you did. You must have had a sick feeling as you opened the box.