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T206CollectorWhen I said that "I have had the same ethical concerns that have been expressed here," I certainly did not mean to suggest that it was wrong for someone to soak a T206 and press out a crease, if that is possible. I was saying that I personally did not like the idea, but I am well aware that it goes on, is undetectable and that I probably have scores of T206 cards in my collection to which it has been done. I can still sleep well tonight.
Again, why are you so concerned about whether undetectable things happened to your card over the 100 years prior to your ownership? What does it matter if the pressing was intentionally done to remove a crease as opposed to pressed in a photo album, with unintentional crease removing results? Why does water when applied to a card which is then dried with no ill after effects bother you so much? What is it about the sanctity of dryness that moves your collecting habits? Why should a pencil mark on a card -- the worst kind of alteration -- trump a perfect erasure of that same pencil mark without disturbing the fibers of the card?
Now, distinguish these alterations from chemical additives, restoring cardboard, adding white paint to borders, trimming down corners, etc -- all of which modify the card from its factory and worn condition by addition or taking away pieces of cardboard. I understand the concern about these -- as do the grading companies, by the way. But, I'll side with PSA, SGC and GAI on this one -- if its water, and the card is dry so you can't tell there was ever water there, then there is no harm, no foul, and no applicable ethical dilemma.
Finally, on fraud, without breaking out my Black's Law Dictionary, or looking to the state law definition of civil fraud, I do not believe that fraud attaches until you make a material misstatement of fact or otherwise attempt to sell a card that has been altered in a detectable sense. According to you, if I soak a card to press a crease, then have the card triple graded by PSA, SGC and GAI as an EX 5, that when I go to sell the EX 5, I also have to disclose that I once soaked the card. Not only that, but I must also disclose whether I kept the card in a smoke free environment, what the humidity was like on the day I shipped the card and how many times I had exposed the card to UV light. That is just outrageous.
I usually understand the puritanical limits of baseball card collecting -- I understand why we do not permit the restoration that Picasso and Klimt have succumb to (even with prices far greater than the fabled Wagner) -- but to those of you that dream of cards that have never been soaked and dried under a stack of phone books or what have you, y'all need to get over it because it has happened to your cards and you'll never know and you and your cards will never be the worse for it.
Paul