# Securing silver and flatware: sulfur tarnishes, the drawer is too light

> Secure silver: not in sulfurous cardboard, flatware case not in the sideboard by the door, keep a piece count.
> Quelle: https://tresorrari.de/artikel/silber-besteck-sichern · Stand: 2026-10-01 · Tresorrari Redaktion

Silver tarnishes on cardboard, rubber, and some woods, and a flatware case is exactly the drawer a burglary takes because it looks valuable. In the overview [Security for collectors](/artikel/sicherheit-fuer-sammler) it sits with jewelry and coins, only bulkier.

## What breaks without a thief

Sulfur, damp, a "silver dip" that takes engraving and gilding with it. You do not polish as a precaution when the patina or the gilding belongs to the piece. You store it dry, in material that does not let silver tarnish, not in the cardboard that already smells.

## When someone comes

The case in the sideboard is known. The rare case and the few old spoons with a maker's mark go in the anchored cabinet once the sum requires it. The bulk of the everyday flatware can stay in the sideboard, clearly separated on the list, so a loss does not turn everything into a collector's piece.

## The folder

Pieces and count, maker's mark as a photo, proof for the old sets. "Flatware for twelve" is one line only when it is a set and not twelve different spoons.


## Häufige Fragen

### Polish the silver?

Only if the surface can take it. Do not rub off gilding and engraving.

### In the sideboard?

The everyday silver, yes. The documented old set in the cabinet.

### Cardboard in the case?

If it lets silver tarnish, out. Store dry and in suitable material.