Water damage help asap
 

Just got a significant baseball cardboard advertising piece that was rained on and the water soaked through the usps box before I got home. Regular postal lady always stands packages up close to the door or behind a chair. This was just placed flat in front of door and subsequently took a hit of rain. Bottom 3-4 inches of the piece itself soaked up some water with discoloration already setting in. This is a piece I'm absolutely sending in for restoration so do I just let them deal with the water issue then or is there anything I can do right now to lessen the damage. It's currently still wet! :mad:

That's a shame .. I would put white napkins or paper towel on both sides and put some weight on it- absorb as much as you can

Try
 

Putting the piece in dry uncooked rice, it acts as a desiccant

Thanks guys! Pretty sure the damage has occurred at this point. The surface is no longer damp to the touch although the back of it is slightly. The worst of it I believe is a white area that darkened where the water crept up the sign. A good part of the stain is concealed in a multicolored area. I will post pictures before and after restoration of the piece. I say restoration because each corner of this sign was cleanly cut off and needs some help there. Super rich colors as the sign was found behind a framed picture. Will also have restoration company address the recent water stain as well.

This piece is currently being restored by Tom at the Art of Restoration in Chicago. Its the first piece Ive ever had worked on and Im really looking forward to posting the results.

Sign
 

Not the Victor Base Ball Supplies sign?

You are correct Mark. A paper Spalding sign is currently being worked on with the Victor scheduled to go next.

I'd go with the rice as well at least to minimize any further damage as well as dry it out. At least it was going to be restored anyway.

How did you choose the restoration company?

Primarily based on this thread

http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=186885

Before and After
 

Extremely pleased with the way this turned out. Work was done by Tom at The Art of Restoration in Chicago. Tom is a true artist in every sense of the word. Super cool guy who is more passionate about his work than words can describe. I've always leaned towards keeping original original. Tom, along with his work that I can now see firsthand, has shown me that restoration can be a positive. Some pieces practically beg for it! This is one such piece and as far as I am aware, the only complete version of the sign :)

Wow!! What an artist. It's fantastic to see that sign whole again. Were the cut corners still present and reattached, or did the artist recreate the corners? Amazing. Congrats!

Well... It's not exactly complete, is it?

Tom is an artist true and true. I sent him the piece as it was in the first photo. That is how the piece was found. The corners were long ago cut away and discarded. He did his magic and sent me the finished product! :D. Im amazed and tickled . Couldn't be happier

In what sense do you mean David?

I mean the corners are missing. If this is considered "complete," than there is no such thing as an incomplete sign. All signs, no matter how much--or little--original material remains, are "proto-complete." Just send them to Tom.

I look at it like this: The corners were missing. Tom added corners back to it. I never said the sign was 100% original. I used the word "complete" in the sense it now presents as it did when it was originally displayed.

But you didn't say "Now it is complete"; you said it was the ONLY complete example. A statement like that should have an invariant meaning. That is, unless another complete example is discovered--discovered, not constructed--than yours is the only one. But if I can make a complete example any time I want to (I being the owner of an incomplete piece, as yours was) than your statement may sound impressive, but really has very little meaning.

So it would make you happy if I would change the word "complete" to "completed"?
".....and as far as I am aware, the only completed version of this sign?":D

Wow !!! Just wow !! He almost did too good ! Congrats

I hadn't thought of that, but, yes! That's perfect!

Awesome sign! I'd be curious to see the back...

Your Baseball sign reminds me of Carltons's matching Football sign.

Attachment 281938

Thanks guys and I will post a picture of the complete back later this evening.

Hey Joe, yes I was thinking Carlton owned the football version. He had posted a previous National photo of the baseball sign that he believed to be from Spalding but wasn't sure because the "Spalding" had been trimmed away.

Unbelievable work!

Back

Beautiful sign and amazing work.
For those of us who have items that we are considering conserving/repairing, could you share how much this cost to restore and how the price was calculated. I mean is it based on item size or just an individual estimate he came up with?

Btw I did invite Tom to join net54 as he is wanting to venture into more sports related advertising pieces. He has signed up but I know Leon is busy at the National so I dont believe Tom has been approved yet. Tom is at the National and wanted me to post his contact info in case anyone had an item they wanted him to take a look at in person

T.tomc1@gmail
312-733-1153

Enjoy the National if you are there....
Im at home :(

Hi Mark
I dont want to get into specifics of what this one cost me but if you shoot Tom an email or text of anything you are considering he will definitely give you an estimate and can talk to you in detail about options you have. Hope that helps :)

Turned out great. Love it!

Wow, even the back looks great. He did an amazing job!

Hello everyone. It's great to see all the feedback on the restoration I did for Michael. I don't always get to hear what others have to say once I send a piece back to a collector, so this is great. I'm new to the site and look forward to getting to know more of you.

Hi Mark. Thank you for the positive feedback on the restoration I did for Michael.

Inevitably every piece is unique in terms of cost depending on the condition of the original piece and the final result that is desired by the collector. If you or anyone on the forum is considering having any restoration done I'm more than happy to discuss the possibilities. It's always best to have pictures available to reference so feel free to email or text me the images.

Tom,
Thanks for commenting on this.
It will be nice to have a professional restorer/conservationist on the board to perhaps offer opinions or various projects and perhaps even to weigh in on the never ending question of when to restore and when not to. We are always so focused on preserving something in it's original form that having someone with your expertise here to give opinions from the other side will be helpful to many I think.
Mark

Absolutely agree with the above.....welcome aboard Tom!