Restoration and Conservation of Old baseball items.

[Shemp]

I am confused. Restoring cards is ok?

[Lucas00]

Originally Posted by Shemp

I am confused. Restoring cards is ok?

This is not a service for cards. Though I've seen them rescue a glued scrapbook '52 mantle. As far as I know I don't think they will doctor cards. Though I'm not 100% certain. I can't find any examples on their site.

It's much more aimed toward conservation and preservation of display oriented historical pieces. Like posters, photos, historical documents, displays, letters, boxes etc. Similar to what a museum would have done.

Will attach a cool signed mantle Rawlings point of purchase display I saw on their site to show more of what they do.

[ruth-gehrig]

.

[Exhibitman]

I bought this non-functional 1921 Exhibit machine:



And decided to restore it myself for a display piece (the mechanism and back cover were gone, and I did not bother to restore them). I hammered out the worst dents, removed/cleaned/replaced the hardware, sanded/cleaned the machine, repainted with a green hammered metal finish, then used one of my favorite items to create a display card:



Now sits proudly in my office reception area. As I recall, it took maybe 20 hours altogether, not counting research time.

I am all for restoring a shit-hammered piece when the alternative is the item is a loss or an unseemly mess.

i once hired a movie poster restoration company to conserve a rare wrestling poster that was folded and falling apart. It is an on-site poster from the 1950s of former heavyweoght champ Primo Carnera from his wrestling days. Had it de-acidified and mounted on linen. I lost money when I sold it, but the poster was really special, so it didn't really bother me.

Before:



I don't have the 'after' but the poster edges were actually intact, just folded under.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I bought this non-functional 1921 Exhibit machine:



And decided to restore it myself for a display piece (the mechanism and back cover were gone, and I did not bother to restore them). I hammered out the worst dents, removed/cleaned/replaced the hardware, sanded/cleaned the machine, repainted with a green hammered metal finish, then used one of my favorite items to create a display card:



Now sits proudly in my office reception area. As I recall, it took maybe 20 hours altogether, not counting research time.

I am all for restoring a shit-hammered piece when the alternative is the item is a loss or an unseemly mess.

i once hired a movie poster restoration company to conserve a rare wrestling poster that was folded and falling apart. It is an on-site poster from the 1950s of former heavyweoght champ Primo Carnera from his wrestling days. Had it de-acidified and mounted on linen. I lost money when I sold it, but the poster was really special, so it didn't really bother me.

Before:



I don't have the 'after' but the poster edges were actually intact, just folded under.

Fantastic looking restoration job. Well done!

[LEHR]

I have no problem with restoration as long as the work is done by a professional and disclosed when sold. Pretty much every other collectable market accepts restoration so I've never understood why it so taboo in the sports market as long as the work is disclosed.

[JustinD]

I don't have a problem with it if disclosed and it is commonplace with any museum.

The issue is that at this time you are likely devaluing the piece with restoration due to collector preference. These trends come and go with collectables and can turn on a dime, much like what happened with the classic car market and that unrestored barn finds are now worth 3-4 times their restored brethren. This was not the case 20 years ago.

If you accept the risk to investment and are always honest about these things, do as you please in my book.

In my personal opinion that Just So is so far gone, it is a logical choice (wish they would have added back the hangers)...the Hans and Robinson poster, not so much.