Cards that CAN and CANNOT be soaked?!

[ejharrington]

Originally Posted by JT1962

Shilling is actually against the law, it is consider a form of fraud. 15 years ago or so the FBI arrested a couple guys on EBay for shilling. They raised prices for 2-4 years 3-8 million dollars, if I remember correctly. To say shilling is not any worse than soaking. That is only based on your own personal logic, which is idiotic.

There is no law against doctoring baseball cards either. It doesn't make it right.

I don't know how anyone can justify soaking baseball cards in water or any other chemical (yes, water is a chemical).

[OldOriole]

Originally Posted by ejharrington

I don't know how anyone can justify soaking baseball cards in water or any other chemical (yes, water is a chemical).

Quite a few people on this thread clearly approve of soaking and some even give helpful suggestions to avoid damaging the cards. To me, soaking is completely fine...you are removing material that was not there at the time of production and was not intended to be on the card. The cards were mean to be held and enjoyed. Clearly, the backs were meant to be read, hence the advertising. Thank goodness for soaking or else many of us would not have a significant portion of the cards in our collections to enjoy.

[Goudey77]

If soaking is acceptable practice then so should cleaning via other methods?
Not challenging the stance here. I just think its a simple yes or no for cleaning (without chemicals). If people want to argue the technicalities then I disagree since it's over complicating the situation. It should be a general rule of thumb if a stance is taken here.

Originally Posted by OldOriole

Quite a few people on this thread clearly approve of soaking and some even give helpful suggestions to avoid damaging the cards. To me, soaking is completely fine...you are removing material that was not there at the time of production and was not intended to be on the card. The cards were mean to be held and enjoyed. Clearly, the backs were meant to be read, hence the advertising. Thank goodness for soaking or else many of us would not have a significant portion of the cards in our collections to enjoy.

[brianp-beme]

A decent percentage of PreWW2 cards we own at one time came from a scrapbook. I have no problem with soaking them out with water, and have done so in the past.

The one set of cards that I had extra poor results from the soaking process was the V61 Neilson's Chocolates. The glossy coating on the front got very hazy after the soak, and pretty much ruined the look of the cards.

Brian

[Kzoo]

I bought a 55 Topps Clemente a couple years ago that had a weird, wavy warp in the cardboard. There was not any glue or anything stuck to the back of the card. It almost looked like it got wet at some point years ago, like maybe in an old shoebox of cards in a basement (that's how I envisioned it) and then dried funky.

I hadn't soaked any of the 50's topps cards before, so I tried a common 55T 'beater'. It survived the process, so I gave Roberto a bath for 15-20 minutes and it dried perfect, without any of the warping problems it previously had. It now resides in a PSA 4.5 holder and looks great.

[Luke]

1948 Leaf?

[Goudey77]

Does anyone know if 1914 CJ's have issues with soaking? I know it was mentioned earlier but i'm curious since i've seen quite a few of these 1914's that have a wave in the stock. They arent completely flat. Likely attributed to the thin stock. But i'm curious if that's an indicator for soaking as well.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

A decent percentage of PreWW2 cards we own at one time came from a scrapbook. I have no problem with soaking them out with water, and have done so in the past.

The one set of cards that I had extra poor results from the soaking process was the V61 Neilson's Chocolates. The glossy coating on the front got very hazy after the soak, and pretty much ruined the look of the cards.

No 'Before' scan, but did find an 'After' scan...Ouch!

Brian

[irishdenny]

i wouldn't soak a Mello Mint!

[plastic.dog]

Has anyone ever soaked an Ogden’s Tabs or Guinea Gold? (British tobacco cards from around 1900.) If so, what was your experience? Thanks.