Update.
The owners decided to allow me to soak the cards.
All the cards were glued to a cardboard backing. Some parts of the backing had 2 and 3 layers of backing. In addition, it appears that most of the card had glue on it.
Soaking for 30 minutes definitely was not enough. After experimenting on the beaters, it turns out that most cards needed to be soaked 12-36 hours. The backing became very soft and was easily lifted off most cards but not all.
Even after the backing was either easily lifted off, many of the cards had some paper loss.
I suspect that in many cases, the paper loss was there prior to gluing it to the backing. It could also be in the areas where most of the glue was adhered to.
Almost all cards had some glue residue after removal of the backing.
I did not want to mess with it after the backing came off.
I soaked the first Cobb card. It was the T205. Surprisingly, it was the easiest. The back actually slid off by itself. Yet, there still was some paper loss on the back. See the attached photo.
Will the grading companies grade this card? If so, who should I send it to SGC or PSA?
This ongoing project has been tons of fun but stressful. I must have shaved 10 years off my life.
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