Cool it in the fridge for a few minutes and wipe off the dampness. No more humidity in this air. Now a small clean fire uses up all the oxygen in the airtight glass jar, with your silverware sealed in it.

Your silverware stays bright and shiny.

This is a nice looking glass jar or box, A small remotely controlled zippo lighter does the job. sealed air tight, but no need for a vacuum because the pressure inside is the same or nearly the same as that outside.
-- pashute, Jun 26 2017

You can buy transparent plastic boxes with an in-built vacuum pump. You just close the box (in this case, with your silverware in it), then pump the handle until you get a decent vacuum. They would work nicely for this application.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 26 2017


Hydrogen. Flush the box with hydrogen, a strong reducing agent.

There will need to be a top-up mechanism as hydrogen diffuses through most things quite quickly. A small electrolysis unit would work fine.
-- 8th of 7, Jun 26 2017


Or surround your precious silverware with things which will successfully compete with your silverware in bonding with Oxygen. For example, lumps of red-hot iron will be much readier to oxidise than room-temperature silver.
-- hippo, Jun 26 2017


Powdered metallic Potassium.
-- 8th of 7, Jun 26 2017


Lumps of red-hot potassium must logically be even better.
-- pocmloc, Jun 26 2017


Argon. Displaces oxygen, non-reactive, doesn't diffuse away. Relatively easy to acquire.
-- Loris, Jun 26 2017


// non-reactive //

There's your problem, right there.
-- 8th of 7, Jun 26 2017


Editing in answer to Max in particular but also to all the others...
-- pashute, Jun 26 2017


It's occurred to me before to preserve newly-minted coins by covering them in candle wax and then leaving them at the back of a shelf for the rest of my life.

Then, when I'm old and penniless, I can dig them out and melt off the wax. Hopefully they'll still be nice and shiny, making them worth far more than face value to collectors.
-- Wrongfellow, Jun 27 2017


So, this shelf with all the coins on ... where might it be, exactly ?
-- 8th of 7, Jun 27 2017


Right behind the pile of half-melted candles.
-- Wrongfellow, Jun 27 2017


Aren't dirty old coins worth more than clean old coins? Whenever somebody posts an old coin or gun to /r/whatisthisthing, everybody is all "don't clean it!" because apparently that would destroy the collectibility value.
-- notexactly, Jun 27 2017


Rubber. This is in regard to consuming O2: rubber is great at that as the double bonds just beg for that O.

Used rubber items that would otherwise be thrown away would be perfect for this application.
-- bungston, Jun 28 2017



random, halfbakery