Strip Cards, To Clean or Not to Clean?
 

As a collector and part time dealer of baseball memorabilia for many years (full disclosure), I have questions on cleaning W strip cards.
A large collection was brought to me, mostly in very poor filthy condition. The cards were collected by various members of a family, and had been in a dirty basement for decades, many wrapped in rubber bands ...
The family wishes to sell the collection, however, the cards need curating, i.e., surface soot and other crud, and dirt must be removed to make many of the cards have value.
Members of the family are concerned that cleaning will devalue the cards. Soaking is out of the question, however, there are some wonderful cards here, which will benefit from being cleaned. Of course cards that do not have soot and crud on them are worth more than dirty cards. Not talking about using chemicals here, just light cotton or q-tips, maybe water.
As I am not being paid for this, I have no skin in the game other than my time. Your advice, please.

What group of strip cards are we talking about? I have collected W572 cards and some were dirty or even had scrapbook / glue on the back of them. They cleaned up well by soaking to dissolve glue and remove scrapbook paper and very light application of qtips to remove surface grime. The secret is to watch them closely and not soak too long. It is a fine line between just right and too long so start with the real beepaters to get a feel for it and definitely would not use any chemicals.

Kmac

No expert on cleaning (anything), but I'd isolate about a half dozen pretty valueless cards and perfect my chosen method on them. By the time I got to the real good ones I'd be damm sure I had my cleaning technique down cold.

It would depend on which set. Some are on such poor cardboard that they may not be all that cleanable.

You could always try a common and see how it goes.

Steve B

Try a light, damp cloth to start with. I doubt that would hurt much. It would help to know what kind of cards they are too, to give better advice. There are a ton of strip cards ..... Do you have a scan or picture?

Strip Card Cleaning reply
 

Thank you for your quick replies, fellas.
In the interest of full disclosure again, I have some experience restoring and conserving paper ephemera, historic documents and other material. Each card set represents a different cleaning challenge because of the differences between papers; sometimes even within sets there is no uniformity. I guess the printers in Hoboken, etc. just chose what they had, and if a product changed packaging, another cardboard was used to print the cards. There are also some minor differences in printing inks and finishing, which poses less of a problem.
There are a lot of strip cards here, over 500. They were alphabetized by player last name, put into card pages, inventoried, and put into a heavy duty notebook. Condition runs the gamut: Many were cut disregarding borders, by family members when they were kids over 75 yrs ago, some edges were ripped instead of cut, and some are in very good condition. The HOFers and rarities have been isolated on pages, and needless to say, get the most care.
These strip cards consist of W502s, 503, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 519, 520, 521, 522, 551, a few Big Heads, 9316, maybe a couple of 461s, and a few others. It looks like the kids' collecting emphasis was on the players, not the card series or team, although there may be 1 or 2 complete sets. That would explain the many different strip card series' here.
Your answers agree the cards should be cleaned, but of course carefully. Any other general advice you can give me, i.e. to emphasize that cleaning will greatly enhance the value of the cards? Again, thank you so much.

As you know, 100 years old paper crumbles easily. If there are marks you want to get off you can always try a Mars Plastic Eraser and they work well. I have used them on just about everything. And as you know by now, some of those series of strip cards can have some very valuable cards...Good luck and keep us updated if you can.

+1

KMac, check my answer your question in the thread. Will cleaning the cards enhance their value?

RP12367, check the answer to your quote in the thread. Will cleaning the cards enhance their value?

Depends on the cards involved and the popularity of the issue. In general my thought would be yes but a qualified yes. As a rule peopl like clean cards over cards with issues.

Of course, good advice.
 

Thank you. Many variables to consider.

If you don't damage the card then a cleaner card and better looking card will be more valuable. I have taken countless marks, glues, papers and pastes off of cards with water, q tip and/or plastic eraser. Have had very good luck.

There is a dry product that conservators use to remove surface dirt. I forget the name.