Posted By:
D.C. Markel"A mass spectrometer (MS) is destructive although it requires almost no sample. The hassles of detecting vapors emitted by a card by MS would require a decent amount of effort. I'd say you'd be better off using Kevin's tips to spot bleaching and spending the $75k (or so depending on what you need) price of the MS on more cards."
No, a mass spectrometer is non-destructive; unless you believe a specimen being bombarded by electrons is destructive. The one major concern would be putting a card in a vacuum - it may or may not harm the card if done very slowly in both evacuation and refilling. However, talking to the Material Scientists where I work, they thought of several ways of getting around this such as taking a single fiber from a freyed corner or gently wiping the card with a damp swab (wetted in distilled water) and analyzing the swab for chemical residue.
The smell test will probably only help one detect chlorine but will it detect solvents that are used for removing gum and wax stains as in the supposed case of the Jim Hegan card shown above?
Your quote of $75K seems high, we bought one for less than $50K several years ago and of course this isn't for Joe Collector. I only mentioned this since Jim Crandell and Kevin are talking about starting a grading company for detecting sophisticated alterations. In my opinion, it you go the "touchy-feely" route it will be a miserable failure. To do it right in my opinion, it will require the latest technology in non-destructive forensic science.