Card Bleaching - examples and what to look for

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Posted By: Kevin Sauicer

Card bleaching is an attempt to use chemical agents to clean, brighten or whiten a card. Bleaching can hide or mask stains, remove the naturally harsh toning of a card or clean up a dirty border or section. Just because the word “bleaching” is used to define this type of alteration, it does not necessarily mean that ordinary household laundry bleach is used in the process. Also, the term bleaching does not always pertain to whitening an area. Chemical solutions can be used to revitalize a card and make the colors appear more vibrant. This is especially true with lighter colors. The solutions can all but eliminate years of natural wear, discoloration and dirt.



There are several ways to tell if a card has been bleached or chemically treated. First is the nose test. Almost all chemicals create a distinct odor that permeates into the cardboard stock and can stay there for quite some time. The human nose can be highly sensitive and therefore may be able to detect the scent of something other than an ambient odor. If you suspect a card has been bleached simply, hold it up to your nose and sniff. Since cardboard is virtually odorless, if you smell anything abnormal, chances are it has been chemically treated. This won’t help in an online auction or a purchase where you cannot physically hold the card.

Look to make sure the card is not faded, while at the same time have sparkling clean white areas, brighter than normal colors and/or borders. Since chemicals and bleaching agents can affect the entire card, ink throughout the card or certain colors can show signs of fading. Depending on the card stock and age, black lettering can appear dark gray, red ink may turn slightly orange dark blues may appear a shade lighter and so on. Again, you will often see this is in addition to bright clean white areas. For the most part bleaching is not confined to one small area, you will need to look at the big picture.

The card below has had its colors faded by being immersed in no less than four different very harsh chemicals. It was sent in as a test to see if a card with a "horrendous" chemical odor would be graded...it reeked.





If the card has any creases, wrinkles, scuffs or deep pores, chemicals will work their way inside and give it an unnatural look as well. Creases and scuffs, however small, frequently expose raw cardboard. Bleaching agents can seep into this crevasses and make that entire area surprisingly white. It doesn’t take much experience or training to be capable of spotting this altered area.





Most, if not all, vintage cards have some degree of toning or a natural aging, it may not be on the card front or back but most assuredly on the edges. This again, is where a halogen light and a loupe come in handy. Check the edges to see if that light brown toning is present. If a card is bleached, the edges will be as well. This should be the primary focus of the overall inspection, as in a trimmed card, the edges will the key to identifying a bleached card.


Check the card for faint stains. Bleaching is not always used to make a card brighter and better, it is sometimes used to mask or cover stains, residue or marks but may not always completely remove them.

The blury spot in the middle of the Hegan card is where a stain was removed. Yes...I can still see the very faint writing on the SGC graded card.





Chemical solutions that were not well mixed, incorrectly used, incorrectly mixed or cards that were exposed too long or not long enough may have their own special problems or telltale signs. Depending on the year and cardstock some cards will be affected differently. Stains that were not already there can suddenly appear, dark spotting, white spots or marks and light stains can develop. Oddly enough, some solutions will bleach a card but leave darker spots at the corners and/or borders by the cards edge.



The left picture shows a faint example of a chemically created corner spot/stain.





Kevin Saucier

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Posted By: Bryan Long

that baseball cards would have become such a huge business that we would need to worry about this stuff. Thanks Kevin for your knowledge. I, for one, enjoy reading this stuff.

.

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Posted By: T206Collector

For whatever it's worth, SGC returned (multiple times) to me two T206 cards that they claimed had been bleached. They also explained they used the "smell" test and it failed that, too. Those cards were certianly whiter and cleaner than they should have been.

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Posted By: Neal Kane

if I really truly have a problem with bleaching.

If dirt and stains can be removed from it, and a card looks cleaner because of it ... eh, I think I possibly can live with the stink that is causes.

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Posted By: D. C. Markel

If someone is really serious about detecting ANY chemicals added to cards, they should invest in a mass spectrometer. It is a non-destructive test and will tell you the exact composition of the item in question (provided the card is not inside a holder). We have several where I work and they aren't cheap.

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Posted By: ErlandStevens

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.

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Posted By: Paul S

I've learned alot from this board in the relavtively short period I've been on it. So thank you Kevin and everyone else. I look at cards now differently (the good and the bad) than I had.

One thing that used to strike me was the number cards I'd see that could look so "clean", especially those where the corner wear had more obvious handling than the card's surface would indicate. I mean, there was too much of a discrepancy in wear between the two. I've had a lot a raw for a long time, and for better or worse I like to handle them (less now, of course ) Cards just don't "age" like that, where one aspect is that much more pristine than the other. (I've seen a few holdered that way too.)

Paul S

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Posted By: Dave F

Kevin

Have you attempted to get each of these alterations through the grading companies? bleaching, coloring, pressing, etc?

I'm just curious to what percentage of the time if so you've been successful in fooling them...I'm even more curious if you'd done this to each company what percentage each has been fooled at...if you have that information and woudln't want to make it public..email me!

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Posted By: rand

another thanks from me, every one of your posts are super. i have learned a ton.

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Posted By: JimCrandell

Wow-

Kevin--You have become the MVP of Net54--

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

this is why Iam careful of any Cracker JAcks...especially 14's.

If a 14 is pure white ,it's toast. These should be creamy in border color and have a Jack stain at least somewhere on the card or caramel coloration.

The test would become important on the 15's cause of the mail in coupons and I imagine some would be bleached to believe that it was a fresh mail order card. I like a liitle stain on my JAcks and the T206 Polar Bear cards for the vintage ambience that they give. I would never buy a Polar Bear w/o a stain somewhere due to that I would believe that the card HAS been cleaned.

Adios !

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Posted By: Kevin Saucier

"Have you attempted to get each of these alterations through the grading companies? bleaching, coloring, pressing, etc?

I'm just curious to what percentage of the time if so you've been successful in fooling them...I'm even more curious if you'd done this to each company what percentage each has been fooled at"



I have not attempted to get each type of alteration through...but most and with all three grading companies. Although based on a promise long ago I won't try to get one past Global and have honored my word. Instead Baker gives he an honest opinion if it would pass or not. This works out best because I get an opinion from one of the best graders and it doesn't end up slabbed.


Regarding the other companies, I can't recall ever having an altered card rejected.


Kevin Saucier

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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.

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Posted By: Kevin Saucier

"I only mentioned this since Jim Crandell and Kevin are talking about starting a grading company for detecting sophisticated alterations."



The thought of opening a grading company never crossed my mind. Identifing altered cards that are already slabbed is the idea.

Whew...just saved $50K.

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Posted By: ErlandStevens

"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."

destructive