[drcy]

My ethics rule for restoration is it should never be done strictly for financial reasons. If someone removes stains or repairs a tear to card to make it look nicer to them or has a deteriorating poster professionally resotored and deacidified in the name of conservation, those are non-financial reasons. The restoration may raise the financial value in the process, but the motivations were in major part not financial. However, if you trim or recolor a card strictly for re-sale/financial reasons, I catalog that as unethical. Purely financial considerations (aka altering a century old artifact only in the name of making $) is not a valid reason to alter or restore a card.

That's my opinion. And as I tell to non-collectors, one thing I've learned about the hobby is that money really is the root of all evil. Why do people in the hobby forge, counterfeit, deceptively trim and intentionally misrepresent?-- for money. That's why I think purely monetary reasons for doing something should be looked at with a skeptical eye.

And, of course, if you alter or restore a card, it has to be disclosed.