[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by williamcohon

In the violin world, an old instrument with a crack needs to be repaired. With a high quality repair, the value is retained. Revarnishing, however, detracts from the value.

In the art world, cleaning, flattening, even re-weaving are par of a curator's aegis.

It seems arbitrary to me, and just a bit peculiar, that in the card world there is such an insistence on the perpetuation of earlier damage, especially when methods exist that can effectively repair it.

I have never soaked a card, but it wouldn't bother me to find out that I own some that have had a bath.

As has been stated, the reason for this is that for the most part baseball cards were produced in quantity and therefore relative condition is an important determinant of value. Restoration artificially manipulates relative condition.