Advice for glued binder of tobacco cards / New memeber

[ullmandds]

How do u know theyre t208's?

[EvilKing00]

can you post some pics?

dont scrape or pull apart, soaking would be the best bet. There are step by step info in this forum. Just search "soaking"

[travrosty]

if you are going to have an archivist or specialist remove the glue on the cards, then do them all. dont scrape off the lesser cards because you never know what is lesser or a diamond in the rough. be careful, you have time on your side, they were in the album for 90 years, another year or so wont hurt them.

[winter15]

Here are a few examples of the pages... Which conservators are recommended by the members here? I have cherished them for a LONG time and I am excited to keep them in my family. Thanks for the advice.

[1880nonsports]

It appears you aren't planning on selling any parts of this (the value would be in the firesides) which is an excellent start. You also said you love the cards. A good middle. You are thinking of removing the cards (they don't appear to be breaking down and perhaps de-acidification might be a good idea) BUT that would be a sad ending. When deconstructed much of the "story" is lost and they just become cards - which isn't a bad thing - but they then are sorta just like any other group of cards. The "hands and eyes" of your grandfather are what it seems would be important to me. I always feel responsible to pass on anything I have acquired and not produced myself in the same condition it arrived in (unless the item is degrading) - especially something destined to be passed down in the family.....
no guarantees whether written or implied

Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level
and beat you
with
experience

[conor912]

I agree. From what I see, there is no reason to take this album apart if you intend to keep the cards in the family. For any that have fallen out, I would do what your grandfather most likely would have done and just glue those suckers back in.

[christopher.herman]

Post more pics/scans please; it's a work of art.
Unless there are one or two super valuable cards that make sense to remove, leave that album alone and treasure it with your children as a family heirloom.
-Christopher

Edited to add that I just noticed those t205 Cobbies. You may want to remove those and you could replace them with two less valuable cards.

[Matthew H]

If those are firesides, they're worth more then the Cobbs. I agree with others, if it were my heirloom, I'd have a conservator look at it to make sure it's stable, then I'd leave it alone. It's a really cool piece, better then the sum of its parts imo.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

How do u know theyre t208's?

Same question here. Without seeing the backs couldn't they be E104 Nadjas or D359 Rochester/Williams baking?

[caramelcard]

I would guess they are E104s since you have cards from common issues in there.

Are your pages back to back? Cards on both sides?

From the looks of the paper and the remnants where the T51 fell out, it looks like those cards would be easy to remove as long as they are not glued back to back. If the glue is only in the corners, even better.

Robert