To soak or not to soak a '14 CJ?

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.

[usernamealreadytaken]

Zach. Although you may not agree with it, I hope you didn't miss my point. See, I am an orthodox 14cj collector. The caramel stains are awesome; they make each card unique and remind of where the card came from - some kids box of Cracker Jack. To those who collect TPG holders, a scrubbed CJ might get you a bump. But I ask, at what cost?!?

Originally Posted by usernamealreadytaken

Zach. Although you may not agree with it, I hope you didn't miss my point. See, I am an orthodox 14cj collector. The caramel stains are awesome; they make each card unique and remind of where the card came from - some kids box of Cracker Jack. To those who collect TPG holders, a scrubbed CJ might get you a bump. But I ask, at what cost?!?

Chris, I definitely respect your opinion and understand why you feel the way you do about your Cracker Jacks. Obviously I'd like the cleanest copies possible, but I appreciate your perspective on how the caramel speaks to the history of the cards and I hope that carries over to me as a newer CJ collector. I will say that the Clarke in question presents like a VGEX card other than the staining, so if caramel stains allow me to more easily afford the cards I guess I should stop complaining. I will not be soaking the card btw. Thanks again for everyone's input!