To soak or not to soak a '14 CJ?

[tiger8mush]

By the way, unfortunately I don't know if '14s can be soaked or not. They are VERY fragile. And if you do soak, I'm not sure how much of the staining would be removed. I'd work on a cheap one before trying a nice HOFer like you have there with Clarke.

If you DO soak, show us some pics!

Rob

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by tiger8mush

By the way, unfortunately I don't know if '14s can be soaked or not. They are VERY fragile. And if you do soak, I'm not sure how much of the staining would be removed. I'd work on a cheap one before trying a nice HOFer like you have there with Clarke.

If you DO soak, show us some pics!

Rob

None of the caramel will come out, either year. That is very fragile ink and you run the risk of creasing it while handling it wet...don't do it.

[Ghumbs]

I'm scared to death when I handle '14s, I can't even imagine soaking it. I imagine it'd a bit like soaking a newspaper clipping.

[btkpath]

Several years ago, at the Baltimore National, there were several of us (they will remain nameless) who were soaking 1914 CJ's in the Sheraton adjacent to the convention center. It was a very slow process. It did nothing to remove caramel staining, but it was effective at removing some corner glue (but not the glue stains that were left behind).

As has been mentioned, though, the paper is very thin and fragile, especially when wet. It you do it, be VERY careful and make sure you have plenty of space and the right tools.

Best of luck…..

Thanks for the feedback gentleman. Sounds like there is no reason to take the risk so I will just leave the card in its natural state and accept the staining for what it is.

[usernamealreadytaken]

Asking whether to remove the caramel stains from a 14CJ is like asking whether the coupon should be clipped off of a ZeeNut.

[ZachS]

Originally Posted by usernamealreadytaken

Asking whether to remove the caramel stains from a 14CJ is like asking whether the coupon should be clipped off of a ZeeNut.

Except that one will increase the possible selling price while the other will decrease it.

As long as you're careful soaking 14 CJs isn't difficult and will not hurt the card... but as others have mentioned regular soaking isn't going to help much with caramel stains.