Posted By:
warshawlawHere is a very interesting non-technical site with information on preservation of paper items:
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/about/conservation/resources/faq/#mold2
The main issues with paper are light, pollution and moisture that falls outside normal ambient ranges due to the acidic reaction they trigger. Paper conservators soak, clean and dry paper items all the time; I doubt that museums would do it if it was not possible to do safely.
On a more general note, I find it interesting that nearly every thread about card preservation, restoration and the like quickly degenerates into a fight over whether the collector of slabbed 7-8-9-10 cards has more on the ball than a collector of unslabbed cards. These arguments over whose kung fu is mightier don't go anywhere, so CUT IT OUT!!! I also find it interesting that the debate on the actual point of this post coalesces around the question of what the slabbing companies do or don't do and what they can detect or not detect. It appears that a large number of collectors have ceded personal responsibility for their collecting decisions to the slabbing companies. For those collectors that may be the right decision and I understand why they would fiercely defend their chosen methodology for valuing and assessing their collections. However, what I want to point out is that not everyone agrees with the slabbing companies' underlying assumptions as to what constitutes an acceptable card, and that in the spirit of discussion, we as a group should not be so quick to simply adopt wholesale the underlying assumptions of the slabbing companies. I have long maintained that conservation principles from the art world should be applied to cards.