Walter Johnson L1 Leather
 

I just picked up this "Holy Grail," and am wondering if I should try to get it cleaned, stains removed if possible, and maybe even restoration of the missing pieces using a cheaper non-baseball L1 (assuming I could find one). I'm very happy just putting it up on the wall as is with this nice framing job, the WaJo image is quite sharp and that's what counts for me, but wouldn't mind exploring the other possibilities. Anyone here had any experience with leather restoration, where (other than the internet) I should look for that kind of expertise, or any other comments or advice?

It's nice and if it was mine I would probably leave it just as it is. Good luck with whatever you do. Great leather.

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I would not restore it.

I think it looks great the way it is and my opinion is the Restoration takes away from the Character of the piece and also potentially devalues it

Great Pickup

Beautiful Hank, congratulations. I don't know what the +/- is on restoration of a piece like this but if you wanted to clean/restore it I would think a fine art restorer might be a good place to start. If you choose to go that route let me know, I have great guy here in town that's done a couple of pieces for me, I could give him a call and connect you two.

I’d leave it alone, looks great just as it is. Congrats on the pick up!

Don’t touch it

I think it's a beautiful piece, and I would leave it as is.

I would leave well enough alone.

For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.



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That's a pretty great piece (congrats) and I wouldn't do anything to change it.

Doug

Based on the current direction of our market - I would leave it alone. When the bubble bursts, altered cards(even preserved/restored) cards may have a scarlet letter of sorts. There's no correct answer and opinions will vary. Assuming your "holy grail" might end up in other family member hands when you're gone means setting them up for success to sell later is a consideration. If that's too morbid then maybe you stumble upon one at a flea market for a quarter and sell one off(lol). I approve of restoration when it's a necessity for preservation. That concept has not been adopted in our hobby. Beautiful piece and congratulations.

Thanks!
 

I really appreciate the comments, and as a result I'm leaning strongly toward leaving it as it is. When so many of the people here I have such great respect for feel so strongly, I'm definitely paying attention. It did pass my presentability threshold from the start, or I wouldn't have bought it. What got me thinking about cleaning, and possibly restoration, was this one I found in my search for other examples on the web, from a 2005 REA auction. It's tempting to think that I might be able to get mine closer to this kind of beauty with just a cleaning and/or stain removal, which I approve of in most instances with cards and memorabilia and don't really consider restoration, which is more involved with adding non-original material rather than subtracting dirt and stains that weren't there in the first place--so why not get rid of them if you can do it without changing the piece in any significant way?

That's a really nice one. I've always thought this series was cool. What is the leather like to touch? I've never held one before.

I'll probably never know!

Congrats!
 

Congrats Hank on picking up your Holy Grail!

I wouldn't restore the leather, however, getting it matted with an oval opening might create a more enjoyable presentation.

I bought a T4 of John Tiedemann that was trimmed to the oval and I had it matted to mirror the original look.



Patrick

Thanks, Phil, I would like to talk to them to see what the state of the art is. But my condition for any work would be that it look like it had never been touched. If they could promise that while getting the dirt and stains out without washing out or bleeding the image AT ALL, and depending on the cost, I'd have to give it some thought, at least. Right now I'm guessing I will put it on the wall and smile every time I look at it. Then I'll look at the S81 and do the same.

Thanks, Patrick, that's a pretty good idea. It works real well with your photo, and I've probably done it myself with photos. But even though it's a beater, and with chunks missing you could hide with your method, I think I'd prefer to see the whole thing, warts and all. The L1s are such a strange concept to begin with, I'm not sure the damage mine has sustained takes much away from the overall wonder of it, especially with the extreme rarity in mind. It will be marvelous just to see it on my wall every day.

Maybe it is my photographers eye, but I think I see brush and wipe marks on this one. That would bother me to no end.

Hank fantastic pickup, Congrats!

I'll give him a call and have a chat with him.

I see all kinds of shit that's happened to this thing, Michael. Tell me what you're thinking.

Thanks, Jay!

Awesome pick-up Hank. Congrats! I would leave it as is.

Chad

Great acquisition Hank.

Though I'm certainly no expert, I would agree with the majority of comments and say leave it be.

One word of caution: Keep it out of direct sunlight. I know that sounds very common sense, but lots of us become even more leathery with that type of exposure.


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Congrats Hank... Such a tough item, and the WaJo image is stellar!

I would keep it original as well. The condition flaws mentioned are just a part of its history and charm.

Ha! Thanks, Robbie, I've learned over the years, sometimes the hard way, to beware the elements when it comes to my stuff: sunlight, moisture of any kind, even air are the enemies of preservation. Funny how the things we need to survive are not kind to our collectibles.

Thanks, Mark, that sure is the consensus here. And I'm leaning heavily that way right now myself, but do want to learn what the possible options might be. Looking at that gorgeous example from REA, I would be sorely tempted if a qualified expert told me that mine could look something like that with no effect whatsoever on the image itself. That's the only condition under which I would even consider it. I do appreciate and value highly your opinion and that of the other serious guys here.

Congrats on your great pickup. I'n very happy for you. But, I wish I had known about this auction! :)

You must have opted out of the emails that are sent from the forum. An email about their auction was sent to all members who haven't opted out of those type emails.
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Wow nice Leather.

Make me want to talk to my wife about us going out and getting Some Leather

I didn't get it either, Leon, where do I go to opt in on those? The bids in this auction were so ridiculously low I'm guessing very few forum guys got any notice about it. I was the fortunate recipient of a tip from a very thoughtful member.

Might make her appreciate the hobby more.

Thanks, Val, and there isn't the slightest doubt in my mind that you mean it. This was a bolt of lightning for me, straight out of the blue, and I know you've had a few of those in your time. It's all meant to be.

I would never opt anyone out without them telling me. So at some point you in fact opted out and haven't been receiving them. I just opted you back in. I am the only one that does that (the other mods can but don't). I know people don't like marketing emails but the ones sent from here are spot on, on topic.

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Thanks, Leon!

Ride Em Cowboy Eh Ha

Oh, yeah. But I'm not sure I'd want to see the playroom of the guy or gal who came up with the idea for the L1s, they always seemed a bit kinky to me. Or maybe I would!

Leon, I don't believe that I have opted out from receiving emails sent from the forum. I just now searched my email history, and I didn't find an email pertaining to Grant Zahajko Auctions. In fact, I've never heard of this auction house, until now.

Hank, today, someone at the NSCC told me how much you won the L1 WaJo for - you did very well, my friend! I take consolation in knowing there is no better place for this item than in your collection. BTW, I too, would keep this L1 ln its original condition.

FWIW, I am on this list: didn't opt out, didn't get, never heard.

Same Here. But I saw the banner on top of the forum

Thanks, Val, I just got lucky, as we sometimes do. After being alerted to the auction by a tip from a very nice Net54 member, I was surprised to even be able to register with such short notice. And then my bids were strictly of the bottom-feeding variety, expecting that once the live auction got underway, they would be quickly overwhelmed and that would be that. When I saw the results, I wished I had bid on a lot more! My friend Joe G, who really knows game-used stuff, said that some of the tough early Padres material went ridiculously low, a fraction of their market value in some cases. It was a very strange auction in a number of respects, not least being how it was possible that so few people were aware of it in the first place.

Like others, I'd leave it as it is.

An idea that might work though...

re-frame with a backing mat that has the shape of a complete one in a similar tan. It would look complete from a short distance, but still not be restored aor altered.

Thanks for the interesting idea. Not sure I'd go to that much trouble, and I think there's enough of it there to extrapolate the rest. I do wish they had done the metal plate in gold rather than silver, I might replace that or ditch it altogether.

Always loved the L1 leathers set. If I recall correctly, we had a complete set of the baseball, and a good number of the other series, including 5 or 6 of the LL premiums. In addition we had some original advertising pieces (including a baseball one).

They make great displays, and the variety was cool.

I remember being blown away by your L1 collection, undoubtedly the best ever put together. Unfortunately, the Legendary archives has gone down the rabbit hole. You don't have photos of the items in the collection, do you, specifically the WaJo L1?

Hank- I have that Legendary auction catalog. If you let me know your address, I'll try to get it mailed out to you this week. Jeremy

Beautiful L1 of Walter. I would also opt to leave it alone. I think that it has a tremendous look to it as is. Congratulations.

Such a great piece! Congratulation! It looks like I'm in the minority on this one, but I would be looking to clean it if it were in my collection. As long as it could be done without damaging anything or fading the image. But I also understand why others say not to touch it. As far as how to go about doing it though, I don't have any experience cleaning something like this, but I would look into options. Perhaps a museum curator might be a good place to start.

100% keep it as is.

Thanks, Glyn, I'm only about 60% there right now. I do see the charm in it as it is now, but keep getting drawn to the clean version and think about mine with that kind of patina and brightness.

Just get it cleaned!

You know you want to. And you got it for a great price, so put that money you saved for the cleaning.

It will look amazing and you won't be wondering "should I clean it or shouldn't I? for the next 10 years.

GO FOR IT!!!!!