looks like an accident waiting to happen. Leave it in the holder or it will fall apart with a stiff breeze! :)

I'd be afraid to soak that card for fear of doing more damage.

soaking a Diamond Star
 

I decided to take a leap of faith with this soaking process. I have owned this rather dirty/stained Diamond Star for a couple of decades. I never had the courage to try this before yesterday. I submerged the card in luke warm water for 30 minutes and pressed it for 24 hours as suggested. The image on the left is the cleaned version and the one on the right is pre-drowning. Although the cleaned version looks brighter I'n not sure it is necessarily an improvement. There appears to be some color loss on the bottom left of the card. I'n not sure if that is a result of the soaking or was revealed by the soaking. Nonetheless, this is my last attempt at this.

I prefer the post-soaked Lombardi card (the one on the left). Despite the tiny specks of paper loss, it comes across as having better eye appeal. It would easily add $5 to $10 dollars to my bid!

Lovely Day...

soaking cards
 

I have enjoyed reading the stories about soaking, since this is my business "GONE WITH THE STAIN" FOR 17 YEARS, I Would like to comment, soaking can be a accident waiting to happen, you can soak and get card crap off, but can you remove the heavy glue without ripping the card or creating a even bigger stain. This fine gentleman who worked of the " Ernie" card, pressing will not work, the card looks like a pancake, to help him if he needs this- put the card in luke warm water- for about 5 minutes,let the card swell, paper will raise, and leave it alone. If anybody wants to work on paper, at least call me so I can help them with water,my solvents- not water- remove dirt, it relaxes even paper wrinkles and removes heavy glue. I have done many albums for collectors,dealers with great results-- and even clean the dirt also. Let me know if I can help any chat 54 member-- and yes many chat 54 members have used my service, but again,this is free advice to help--- 315 375 8542 I am waiting on the Edwards auction to help the winner on the jackson glued in--that is my wish. Thank you all very much.

Soaking a Mecca Double Folder
 

I have a Mecca card which was pasted or glued to cardboard backing. I know that I will be able to remove it during a good soak. I have never soaked a Mecca. Have you soaked one of these? Ok for a dip in the water? Thanks in advance.

You should be ok with a soak on that card. I would make sure the card is flat in the dish to reduce risk of separation on the fold. Take your time with it

Thanks so much Andrew for the nod that these are ok to soak.

I soaked my Mecca and everything went great. There is a bit of a stain on the back where the adhesive was stuck for many decades, but overall it turned out great. No ink run, no paper loss and no separation at the fold.

Post some scans of before and after if you can

Pre and post-soak pics
 

Here are the results. I don't have a good image of the pre-soaked card when it was attached to the cardboard backing, so the image is super fuzzy from being blown up and cropped. The other three are post-soak scans. I think it turned out well. These cards are so cool!