Picked Up Some Raw 1895 N300 Mayo

[Prof]

Edit: probably fakes. Oops.

I just got these today.

They look right and measure right. Some are pretty dirty, and they're all stuck to some ancient cardboard. Most appear to be barely hanging on, and the couple I looked under seem to have been skinned before being stuck to the cardboard. How would you recommend getting them free?

I doubt I should soak them. But, I have no experience with this set. Is soaking safe for this set?

Photos!

Abbey / Cartwright / Corcoran / Duffy / Ewing - Cincinatti



Glasscock - Louisville / Glasscock - Louisville / Haddock - Philadelphia / Hamilton / Joyce



Kinslow - No Team / Lowe / Nash / Pfeffer - Retired / Tucker



Duffy - with flash to show gloss/emulsion - present on all cards



Bad picture of the underside.

[NiceDocter]

What a group! Unknown if the soaking would be safe..... you could try it with just one card plain water if you are brave...... pick a beater..... although leaving them as is may be a best plan. Great pickup! Rocky

[Jobu]

Can you post a high res scan of these? I am not an N300 expert, but the color and clarity don't look quite right and I would hate to see that you have decent reprints pasted to old paper.

[Prof]

Originally Posted by Jobu

Can you post a high res scan of these? I am not an N300 expert, but the color and clarity don't look quite right and I would hate to see that you have decent reprints pasted to old paper.

If you click the photo of each card, you should be able to see the full resolution photo that's about 3k x 4k pixels. I have flash/no flash photos of each right now, but only linked the no flash.

I don't have a hi-res scanner.

If I happened to whiff on these, I whiffed. Open to opinions.

[jingram058]

You didn't whiff, sir. Not by a longshot. Great group of cards!

[Leon]

I am by no means an expert, and only by the scans, I have some doubts of authenticity. I could be wrong, but I don't see any of them that have any paper that I like. I would hope in that big of a group there would be some piece of paper unblemished. Hopefully I am wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.
,
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[Luke]

I'm also far from an expert on these but have owned a handful and all of these have a lack of clarity and a cloudiness that worries me. Hopefully it's just a weird picture.

[ccre]

I've owned several myself and they just look off to me. I hope I'm wrong.

[Exhibitman]

Those do not look good. They look artificially aged.

[jingram058]

Who knows? I don't think they look fake, but it's hard to say with out of focus images. As the old Clairol commercial said, "Only your hairdresser knows for sure."