Restore or not restore ?
jaxxr
Posts: 1,258 ✭✭
Many recent threads have made we wonder about something ?
Would many of us try to restore a card if the value was there ?
Lets say you find a 54 Aaron at a garage sale, it's taped to an album page with a dozen or so other 54s, all commons. The seller knows little and wants $ 25.00, because he's not a total fool and realizes even a damaged older card might be worth somethig.
After bringing them home you notice the Aaron is quite nice in all aspects, at least a 7 probably an 8 , except for the scotch tape across its front. Corners, gloss, Etc. look very nice.
Would you spend fifty bucks or whatever the rate is, and send to a " card doctor " with a chance of submitting later for a possible 8 ???
I can not honestly say I am not absolutely sure I would not. What is the feeling out there ???
Would many of us try to restore a card if the value was there ?
Lets say you find a 54 Aaron at a garage sale, it's taped to an album page with a dozen or so other 54s, all commons. The seller knows little and wants $ 25.00, because he's not a total fool and realizes even a damaged older card might be worth somethig.
After bringing them home you notice the Aaron is quite nice in all aspects, at least a 7 probably an 8 , except for the scotch tape across its front. Corners, gloss, Etc. look very nice.
Would you spend fifty bucks or whatever the rate is, and send to a " card doctor " with a chance of submitting later for a possible 8 ???
I can not honestly say I am not absolutely sure I would not. What is the feeling out there ???
This aint no party,... this aint no disco,.. this aint no fooling around.
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Comments
Jaxxr,
Having been burned on too many high dollar trimmed cards and knowing what that feels like,I would have to say that I would not send it off to a card doctor. I do appreciate your open honesty in stating that you truly are not sure what you would do.
Vic
......................h*ll NO....
Submit it with the tape...get a 3 or 4, still worth $25............
Larry
email....emards4457@msn.com
CHEERS!!
Lets go back to the Aaron card with tape across the front. Same senario, except you decide to try to remove the tape yourself. The card's in nice shape except for the 50 year old clear tape holding it to an album page.
You might use a hair-dryer, or a microwave, or nothing at all, to increase the chances of the tape coming off clean. After the cautious and careful pull, amazing......the tape has dried, deteriorated, decomposed, mummyfied, or whatever, enough to come off with nary a trace of adhesive material left on the card,
Send off to PSA, get back a 7 or an 8, and after a few months, you decide you don't wish to keep it anymore and will sell on ebay.
Will you state something like this in your ad copy ?? " Card once had a foreign substance which was removed by the collector, not sent to a professional card doctor for this removal "
Is this card altered ? Is is not altered because the tape was removed by a collector ? If a professional had removed the tape is it now unethical ?
I don't profess to fully understand the line between ethical and unethical in these now being talked about "restoration" threads. I am sure any ADDED substances are truly wrong and therefore unethical, but does removal of a non-factory made, outside substance always produce unethical behavior ?? Or does it depend on who is the remover ??
I sincerely wish to hear others views on this potentialy increasing situation of "restoration" and its impact on the hobby.
I think pulling off tape on the back of a card is one thing.......bleaching borders is quite another.
1) If it feels unethical to you when your doing it, then it probably is.
2) If you found out that (x) was performed on card you purchased.... would you be upset at the seller for not disclosing it?
Mike
Back to the original point....I think everyone is human, we all have feelings, needs, and desires, and I think ANYONE could be caught at a weak moment in life (ethically, spiritually, mentally) and be compelled to participate in some type of questionable activity, including our issue of card restoration.
Just my opinion
Dal
Professional "restoration" of cards...absolutely no way.
Scott
I explained to her that I agree however none of these are now considered "mint"...never having been touched...still original...and that the "originality" in cards is what gives them value...
Okay...does she have a point?
Collector
Topps 58,59,60,61,62,63,64 Sets
Fleer 60, 61-62 Sets
Good postulation here! I agree that restoring Austin Healey's with as many original parts as you can muster is ok (don't play with those serial numbers though -- if the AH has them) because cars require maintenance and parts replacement from day one. Anything that is accepted as authentic despite occasional need for repair is one thing (antique homes, cars, paintings, boats, etc. I think is generally seen as ok, because the alternative would be nothing but piles of scrap suitable for salvage. These types of these are ravaged by age, nature, the elements, use, movement, and so forth.
But, baseball cards are different... these are not normally subjected to these same ravages, therefore it is possible to keep them in a near original state for long periods of time... if card restoration were to come out of the closet (I know it's in their now!)... the only method of restoration I could condone would be brightening the stock. Paper yellows with age due to acid in the paper... nothing can stop that, so if someone devised a method to halt that process only I could live with it. Anyhting else that happens to a baseball card is a result of handling (or mishandling)... that very handling is what makes the pristine copies so desirable!
If we could restore vintage cards to pristine condition, that would kill the value of existing (naturally occurring) pristine cards. How would you feel if you owned the 1/1 Topps 52 Andy Pafko for a cost of $85,000 or any other very rare, condition sensitive high dollar card only to have 6 more Pafko PSA 10s pop onto the market from Dr. Towle's lab and MW's shop? This would ruin the hobby in the long run!
<< <i>There will always be fine lines here ... that are different for each person. But I'd say 2 good general rules of thumb should be:
1) If it feels unethical to you when your doing it, then it probably is.
2) If you found out that (x) was performed on card you purchased.... would you be upset at the seller for not disclosing it?
Mike >>
Excellent post Mike - could not have said it better myself. Just like when we were little we were taught the golden rule and it still applies today.
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" Go ahead and get your fancy barely visible cell phones that get the internet, play DVD's, and can speak 5 languages. As for me and my Atari cell phone it works, it weighs 7 pounds, it is 14 inches long, and it looks like I could call in an airstrike from a remote desert it is so large!"