Damaged Gehrig Goudey Card
 

Hi Everyone,

I have heard on a few occasions where some board members were able to CLEAN UP poor conditioned cards.

Obviously, this card has a hole in it because it was pinned up for over 50 years, but is there anything that can done to salvage it?

Is it worth trying to recondition it? Will the value of the card materially change after the CLEANING UP process, or should i just leave it as is?

In the present condition, what value does a card in this condition hold?

Thanks again for all the valued input.

Lucky

Clean it up, it's already altered/damaged/dirty and you can't make it worse. Plus it's kind of nauseating to look at in its present condition.

Lou See Through Gehrig
 

Not sure if much can be done...and even so I would leave it alone. Here is a card I got from a Net54'er a few years back (thanks again Paul). Some might think the card is near death, whereas I see it as merely a flesh wound.

Nice see-through Lou.

Brian

I would say a couple hundo as is. If it could clean all the black shmoo off, I think it'd be a pretty nice card, the hole not withstanding....

Thank you all for your valuable input.

The question now remains, what is the right process in soaking and cleaning up such a card? Heard about it on these boards from others that have gone through the process themselves, but kind of a leap in putting it into practice on such a card, even though the value is a fraction of what it should be because of its condition.

PS. There are 2 other Ruth cards from the same set, in similar condition.

Lucky.

I would leave it as is. It looks like a reprint to me.

Here is a photo of the back of the card.

Thanks again.

Lucky.

You have the Canadian WWG set. You have both Ruth Cards? Can you post pictures of those?

Gehrig
 

It is hard to tell without a decent scan, but I agree with Michael that it may be a reprint. Even if it is real, soaking the card isn't going to make much of a difference in the appearance.

Ah memories! I bought a dozen or more American Caramels just like that. Somebody had evidently nailed a bunch of them to a wall and took no care with the removals.

Didn't realize it was Canadian...that'll drag the value down some. As far as cleaning it goes, before you do anything you should try and figure out what exactly the black stuff is....dirt, soot, mold? I've never seen soiling like that. Do you have a common you can test with?

Re: Damaged Gehrig Goudey Card
 

That was my first impression as well.

Here are some other definitely authentic tack-holed damaged cards from the same batch (not all mine). These cards did not appear to have been exposed to the sun. Over the years I have seen many cards that were tacked and had fading from the sun...just not sure if the Gehrig is one of them, as the fading looks a little different. Perhaps the fading is due to 'unnatural' lighting

Brian

Looks like BB gun practice

Let's see if we can get the whole team together

http://s18.postimg.org/vvmjxlcix/fvcydh.jpg

All those E90-1s came from me, since the Sixties. And there's more of them out there but not in my hands anymore. I initially had forty-something of them. No Jackson or major scarce ones though. We used to call them the buckshot gang. Then I thought they were tacked onto a wall. Could also be nails. Unless someone wants to pay for forensics the mystery will remain.,,and maybe it more fun that way.

I'd stick it in the spokes of my bike. :rolleyes:

Just an observation but if they were pinned up for 50 years right through the center of the card....I'm shocked the cards appear perfectly flat? Based upon the centering of the hole.... at some point the card will have a more convex appearance? (regarding the White Border T's)

The original card looks to have some other kind of damage than just sun damage. Maybe a chemical or something. As to value only an auction would say ....but I could see it being several hundred dollars.

Couple of more photos..Ruth this time around.
 

Same type of damage..maybe made to look damaged? Purposely?

The color bleed to the back or on the fronts does not look kosher at all on those. Granted, I have zero experience handling the Canadian issue nor have I seen Canadian repros. Those however give me pause.

They certainly look chemically damaged in some way as Leon said. Are they really brittle? They look super fragile.