Opinions on my '56 Mick...

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I am with you on it looking nicer without the stain and a little paper loss. You will notice the loss of gloss more if you tilt the card and reflect light off it. Your card also looks to have a little more dirty/old look to it.

If you want to play doctor a little more a good wash, a little exposure, and a hint of gloss would fix it right up.

All valid points. Besides the paper loss, I've always thought of my Mantle as pretty much a VG card without creases, which is what I go for when I can find them from the 1950's and earlier. It's difficult to find VG cards without creases or wrinkles though, (I do have a '53 Topps Reese that falls into that category) and especially graded ones. I also have a '56 Ted Williams which based on corners and other attributes would be a solid EX-MT - if not for one small spider crease on the right side. It was graded an SGC 40.

LOL on the further doctoring. I have no such interests any longer in my old age. Although I've read some of the articles on how people soak pre-war cards and all that stuff and the intricacies are fascinating. I'd faint trying to do something like that. Much less what Bill Mastro did putting a copy of the world's most desirable card into a paper cutting machine...

Bottom line, I look at my Mantle as an "altered" card, but that's ok. You know what else is altered by those same standards? The aforementioned PSA-8 Wagner, and technically - the Mona Lisa. Which has been cleaned and repaired many, many times in it's history. Yeah ok, I know that's a little different maybe. :-)