I have a bunch of canteen sets now and no place to display all of them so I have to put them away in boxes. My most recent purchase came in a 1 gallon ziplock bag and I thought that maybe it's a good idea to put all of them in a bag like that, then in my boxes for storage. Is there any harm in doing that?

-Matt.

Baggies are good, for helping against storage abrasion between artifacts, and for keeping out dust.

However, as a general practise it is probably good to leave the zipper UNzipped, to allow free movement of air so as to prevent corrosion, rust, mold and other bad stuff which is created by trapped moisture of any kind.

IF you feel that your storage place is reasonably stable (meaning no radical changes) as to humidity and temperature, then it's okay to zip the zippers... in fact, being able to do so keeps out some critters and no see-um crud floating around in the ambient air... PROVIDING you have humidity under control. Free movement of air is nice, for storage of artifacts of almost any kind.

In any event, zip-loc baggies are great for SHORT-TERM storage (i.e. a year or less without inspection).

I'm making a bigger than average deal over this because I've seen many many examples of yucky damage caused by moisture trapped in air-tight containers where relative humidity was uncontrolled.

Stuff that gets kept long-term in some closets, attics, garages and sheds is usually in danger.

But then... I'm a fanatic.

I have some helmets stored in plastic grocery bags, also because some Ive received in mail like this. Not to long ago I pulled the helmet out of back and noticed a dead weird looking bug and some loose leather shavings that I assume was due to the critter. So with that in mind, I agree that you should not close the bag so that it remains aired out so critters dont settle down for a meal. Im guessing with all your canteens you will have some with the covers and wool linings.

If your items are in LONG term storage, I would advise finding the Brownells website (they deal in gun parts and similar items) and check out their brownells long term gun storage bags with Rust-blocker tabs. These bags are HEAVY mylar air-tite bags which are easily sealled with a regular iron. the rust blockers are small yellow plastic squared impregnated with some sort of chemical that slowly displaces moistue and other metal-cancer causing stuff.

If you DON'T want to seal the bags, then ziplocks with some of the rustblockers would likely do the trick. I have used these for years to store CW swords, guns bayonets etc, while they are stored in non-climate controlled areas for the years I am overseas. Never had a problem yet. Can't do better than that!

DO NOT USE PLASTIC BAGS OR STYROFOAM IN THE PRESENCE OF MOTH BALLS!! THE BAGS AND THE STYROFOAM WILL LITERALLY MELT TO THE ITEM! I HAD THIS OCCUR A FEW TIMES WHEN I WAS STARTING OUT AND IT WAS A PAIN IN THE A$$ TO TRY AND PICK THE BITS OF PLASTIC OFF. THE SAME GOES FOR STORING DRESS HATS ON STYROFOAM HEADS IN THE PRESENCE OF MOTH BALLS. IF THERE IS ANY VINYL OR PLASTICS TOUCHING THE STYROFOAM IT WILL MELT TO IT, ESPECIALLY ON THE INSIDE OF THE HAT. SOMETIMES YOU CAN GET THE PLASTIC OFF OTHER TIMES IT DESTROYED THE ITEM. PLASTICS ARE NOT RECOMMENDED. GO FOR PAPER OR SIMILAR, BUT NOT PLASTIC IF YOU USE MOTH BALLS.