Restored cards.....your thoughts

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Posted By: Tom Lawrie

The problems with restoration in our hobby are so significant that I think restoration has no place except in a few isolated instances.

1. Restoring a "unique" artwork or valuable piece of furniture is quite different than restoring a card that was printed in the tens of thousands, and of which quite a few still exist. Restoring the former returns those pieces to an original vision or functional state, while restoring the latter generally serves little purpose. [I've examined the restored (unique) Darby Cobb in person, and were it mine, I would prefer a tack-holed unrestored version.] Plus, artwork and similar items usually have solid provenance (beyond "former Halper" or "former Copeland"), with clear restoration records. Few cards ever have any real provenance.

2. No matter how ardent the collector might be that he is restoring a card for his own collection, there is no way to guarantee that he or his heirs won't sell his collection in the future (my apologies to the few female collectors reading this board). Thus there is always the possibility that the restored card will be returned to hobby circulation and possibly be passed off as original. And it only takes one tired PSA, GAI, or SGC grader on an "off" day to legitimize a restored card.

3. There are no legitimate reasons for dealers to have their own cards restored other than to deceive buyers.

4. And trimming is not restoration - it is simply an attempt to deceive. (There is no legitimate reason for trimming.)

Therefore I think that any restoration of sports cards has the real potential to be used deceptively at some point in the future, and thus should be avoided like the plague.

One example: the restored 1952 Mantle that was correctly identified as such in a Mastro auction, but which the buyer (or the buyer's buyer) subsequently had graded by PRO and which was put up for sale as an original condition, high-grade card. That card caused quite the controversy, and it was easily identifiable by unique printing marks on one of the hands. Most restored cards are not as readily identifiable.

Keep restoration out of the hobby completely.

Just my opinion,
Tom