OT- Near disaster with "desiccants"

[itjclarke]

Just getting back from my safe deposit box and apparently dodged a major bullet. Earlier in the day, I discovered water and sludge in and on boxes of memorabilia in my storage unit. After looking inside them, I realized it was coming from bags of a "desiccant" product which had basically liquified between now and probably May.

A few mths ago, my wife gave me a mixed bag filled with various dehumidification products. It included the little pouches that come in food/drug/etc, little tins packed w/ beads, and then loose beads she'd put in cloth bags (not sure where from but they looked the same as to ones you buy in pouches/boxes). It was the latter that failed.

As it is, I've got a few dozen signed balls, and game programs, etc that are soaked. Luckily most of the cards in those boxes are graded and look fine. If they'd been in top loaders, they'd be toast. I'm not sure as to the extent of damage within these boxes yet, because I left those at home and rushed to my safe deposit box. 80% of cards in my safe deposit are in top loaders and my best signed balls, including one my dad got of Mickey Mantle and his Joplin team as a kid in OK (priceless to me) were were in there. Luckily I discovered I had only used the desiccants in the tins there, and there was no such oozage/damage. It is blind chance that I had used one style of desiccant in the storage boxes and one in the safe deposit. Phew!!!!

I'll try to post more specifics once I get my hands of the product (name/type) my wife had given me that went bad.

[Al C.risafulli]

Oh, what a nightmare.

Glad to read that most of the stuff, and the Mantle ball, seems okay, but still - had to be devastating to see.

Hopefully the wet stuff comes out okay.

-Al

[Jay Wolt]

Ian, thanks for the heads-up, will be heading to my safe deposit box tomorrow as I have a bunch of them in there as well.

[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.

[Mountaineer1999]

Originally Posted by 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.

+1

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by 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.

Yes, 100%!! I keep a handful of cards at home. Mantle was actually deposited that day. I picked it up late last year and had kept it nearby ever since.. I finally parted with it yesterday. Usually when I deposit a card or two, I'll trade it with a lesser value (but favorite) to bring back home. Gotta keep at least a few favorites nearby.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by 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.

I had that thought too (bath/soap), but my wife is adamant they were desiccants. Going on her word until I know otherwise. They also did not smell like soap in any way. Agree, silica would not do that, but she said she literally had just purchased these at Walmart and put them into a zip lock with her wet phone. After a day or two, she took her phone out and gave me that bag of beads to load into pouches.