FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Vitaliy]

As also an arsenic mineral collector I do not think a dark box is necessary to preserve the specimens. If the box is translucent or opaque it will help to delay the decay and transformation of it to Pararealgar and then dust. If the specimens are exposed to light constantly then they will transform to Pararealgar quicker and speed up the process of decay.

It is ok to take them out even daily but you should limit the amount of exposure to light. Perhaps not leaving it for hours in open light but rather minutes would a preferred alternative. Even storing specimens in an area where there is shade or less light is an alternative to storing them in a box.

Just as an experiment I put some Realgar/Orpiment specimens in an opaque/translucent box and some other specimens in a black opaque box to see what the difference would be in the long-term.

[Riccardo Modanesi]

Hi to everybody!
I purchased a realgar specimen coming from the US (Nevada? I don't remember by heart now) some thirty years ago, and put it into a small polystirole box covered by black paper. Now it is apparently unaltered. I used the same conservation method for some realgar specimens coming from the Binntal CH. That's what I did. So far it apparently worked enough.
Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.