Quote:
Originally Posted by Balticfox
I hate to admit it, but CGC's stance on cleaning seems to be reasonably workable and thus good. Removing "stuff" from comics isn't considered restoration by CGC. But!!! Introducing any extraneous substance/material, even water, to a comic is considered restoration and CGC will bestow the dreaded Purple label indicative of "Restored" upon the comic if it detects that any such extraneous substances have been applied.
Therefore rubbing sugar, gum and wax stains or wiping bird droppings off a card is not considered restoration, but a card on which Alan Rosen's "magic potion" had been used would definitely be considered restored, i.e. altered in card terminology.

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And this makes sense. It's acceptable to remove a foreign substance from a card without disclosure, as long as nothing foreign (i.e. chemicals, water) is added to the card in the process. So "cleaning" per se, is not really the issue.