Need a little of advice on a Carmelo Deportivo album

[Northviewcats]

Hi Everyone,

I picked up a 1945-1946 Carmelo album off eBay a week or so ago. The set is complete minus the Reyes card. The cards look great, but the condition of the album itself is pretty rough--lots of stains and some mildew.

I'm debating whether to leave the album alone, or to try and remove the cards by gently soaking them. The cards are solidly glued into the album. Perhaps in the Cuban heat the glue has softened and then re-hardened. I'm just wondering if they would be better preserved in graded holders (for the expensive cards), and top loaders for the commons.

Any advice from collectors that have tried removing Cuban cards from an album would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

[ElCabron]

Generally pretty easy to soak out. Usually water soluble glue. It depends on what you want. It's easier to think of them as individual cards once they're out of the album. But they've survived fine for nearly 70 years in the album, so leaving them in would probably be okay, depending on the mold situation. If the cards are nice, I'd say soak 'em.

-Ryan

I would find a professional who deals with paper restoration to remove the cards from the pages, could be costly. Also I would not attempt it myself in fear of destroying the cards and loosing money in the end

[ElCabron]

No need for a professional. It would cost more than the album's worth. Easy to do yourself. To a Net54 search for soaking cards.

-Ryan

[ElCabron]

"Do" a search. Not "to."

[Northviewcats]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I have soaked a few prewar cards before with success. I just wasn't sure about how well the Cuban cards did in water. I thought that they may wrinkle because they are so thin. Also I have never tried soaking cards that are glued on both sides of the same paper.

I probably will enjoy them in the album for awhile before I try removing them.

Best regards,

Joe

Originally Posted by ElCabron

No need for a professional. It would cost more than the album's worth. Easy to do yourself. To a Net54 search for soaking cards.

-Ryan

"Easy to do it yourself" means "its easier said than done"

[prewarsports]

I've done two of those albums and one was a piece of cake, the other was a disaster. Black ink is usually not water soluble but if you put ANY pressure on the fronts of those cards when wet they will completely rub away so be VERY careful not to touch the fronts.

[ElCabron]

Originally Posted by rgpete

"Easy to do it yourself" means "its easier said than done"

Not sure what translator you're using, but "Easy to do it yourself" means that it's easy to do it yourself.

-Ryan

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Soaking is pretty easy to do.


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[Northviewcats]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will probably try to remove them from the album later this year. I appreciate all of the good suggestions.

Joe

[Jason19th]

I feel the need to weigh in and ask why are we so quick to soak these albums. Its not like we are talking about a scrapbook or cards that are randomly attached to some old paper. These are cards that are in the exact state that they are supposed to be. They are tiny and fragile cards that were meant to be put in the album. Why are we so quick to want to release them so they can be put into holders. I think that these albums are beautiful items that look a lot better then a collection of cards. So my vote (I know no one asked for my vote) would be to keep them as is -- why take any chance harming them if they look great as is

[Northviewcats]

Originally Posted by Jason19th

I feel the need to weigh in and ask why are we so quick to soak these albums. Its not like we are talking about a scrapbook or cards that are randomly attached to some old paper. These are cards that are in the exact state that they are supposed to be. They are tiny and fragile cards that were meant to be put in the album. Why are we so quick to want to release them so they can be put into holders. I think that these albums are beautiful items that look a lot better then a collection of cards. So my vote (I know no one asked for my vote) would be to keep them as is -- why take any chance harming them if they look great as is

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your opinion, I do value it. You are correct that the cards are currently in the state that they were meant to be displayed in. I do appreciate this. In fact it was my intent when I purchased the item to keep the cards in the album.

My concern is the condition of the album itself. Its pretty fragile. It has only been in my possession for a week, and the couple of times that I have turned the pages small flakes on the edges of the pages have broken off. The cards are in pretty good shape, but the pages are stained and in places show what looks like mildew. There are five or six valuable cards in the set (Dihigo, Brown, Dandridge, Minoso, & Tiant) and I wonder if they would be better preserved if they were in graded holders. The common cards would still look nice in top loaders.

I also thought of separating the album into pages and place them into protective plastic sleeves and a binder. In this way I could preserve some of the integrity of the album and still enjoy looking at them without having the pages flake off in my hands.

Perhaps other collectors may have other suggestions.

I posted a couple more pictures; it would be great to see more collectors take interest in the Cuban cards. Also a great way to collect players from the Negro leagues.

Thanks,

Joe

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Northviewcats

I also thought of separating the album into pages and place them into protective plastic sleeves and a binder. In this way I could preserve some of the integrity of the album and still enjoy looking at them without having the pages flake off in my hands.

If this was mine, that's probably what I would do, even though it seems kind of bad, in a way. I definitely (definitely,definitely) would not soak the cards off, but that's just me.

Doug

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Jason19th

why are we so quick to soak these albums.

M-O-N-E-Y. Depending on the results, the individual cards could sell for more than the album.

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

M-O-N-E-Y. Depending on the results, the individual cards could sell for more than the album.

I agree