Baseball card restoration

[Peter_Spaeth]

No doubt most of what he does is not at all controversial.

[Leon]

I have mixed feelings. Certainly not illegal unless done to defraud.
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[Casey2296]

Just like anything else, nobody takes it serious until someone goes to jail for fraud. Until then caveat emptor.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I think it's a gray area if as a professional restorer you're not actively participating in any fraud, but you have a pretty good idea of why certain clients are using your services. Perhaps not gray legally, but ethically? I actually had a very productive conversation once with a woman who did this work (she had impeccable credentials in the museum world as I recall) and even though it was pointed out to her that certain cards she had "improved" had been graded by PSA (I forget the details now), she was insistent her responsibility ended when the customer paid the bill.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think it's a gray area if as a professional restorer you're not actively participating in any fraud, but you have a pretty good idea of why certain clients are using your services. Perhaps not gray legally, but ethically? I actually had a very productive conversation once with a woman who did this work (she had impeccable credentials in the museum world as I recall) and even though it was pointed out to her that certain cards she had "improved" had been graded by PSA (I forget the details now), she was insistent her responsibility ended when the customer paid the bill.

Haha, and the Germans had no idea about the camps. Very convenient.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Haha, and the Germans had no idea about the camps. Very convenient.

The bottom line was that we agreed to disagree. If memory serves this was at the beginning of the "scandal" and I sent her some links to information about what (at the time anyhow) seemed to be a serious federal investigation; whether that deterred her I dunno we did not speak again.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

It's a concept that's a struggle in all corners of the hobby. We pride ourselves on calling out altered cards, occasionally even if they're in a slab, but we can't control what's going to happen after we sell them, but we know that at least some items are probably going to be passed on without the same level of disclosure that we offered. So what's our responsibility or maybe ethical culpability? I'm sure dealers and even hobbyists find themselves in the same situation.

[drcy]

With movie posters and such, restored posters are much more widely accepted, but the existence of alteration has to be disclosed and affects the value. Not disclosing it is considered fraud.

Much of the acceptance of restoration is due to old posters often being delicate (old movie poster paper is often thin and fragile), and that they are large and meant to be hung on a wall.