Light, temperature fluctuations, and air pollution degrade many materials.
Over time, everything is destroyed and disappears. The museum's task is to slow down this process and preserve the objects for as long as possible.
Today, artefacts are preserved in climate-adjusted storerooms, standing directly on shelves of specially selected, untreated wood. For the smaller objects, there's a system that uses acid-free cardboard.
It was different in the past; then, whatever was to hand was used. This display stand is full of old storage cases. Cigar boxes and tobacco tins seem to have been particularly popular. The work of exchanging them is still underway, replacing them with less imaginative packaging.