Soaking a card?

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Since you're interested...

Soaking to remove a crease is beyond soaking to get flour paste and scrapbook paper off of a card.

Soaking to remove a crease so you can get the card graded higher so it will sell better, that bothers me.

Soaking to remove a crease so the card presents better in your own collection, that is tollerable, at least to me. I know others will frown or rant about that, some will think it is ok, too.

If I bought an E102 Cobb (one of the ones I lack) and the top left corner was folded over like a dog's ear, would I be wrong to straighten it? It seems that some folks here would think so. I'm ok with unfolding it. I'd probably put Ty in water for a while, then after a few hours I'd lay him out on paper towels, straighten that dog ear, dry him off, then press him between blotting paper and encyclopedias (others use phone books, but here in the Kentucky hills the phone books are quite thin).

I have 2 really nice Delehanty T206s, Washington and Louisville. I just bought a duplicate Washington card. I'm going to get my good one slabbed and auction it. And I have not soaked it!!! Oddly enough, the replacement was in a PSA 2 holder, but Jim was "busted" out. Now if I can find an affordable and ok Frank Delehanty, I'll be ready to send them off. He has not been soaked by me, either. These were 2 really nice T206s. Back here when other "novice" collectors would talk about qualifying near mint by mentioning the age of the card, I'd show them one of these and hush them up.

So that is a long answer... I'd straighten a wrinkle a bit if it straightened in the drying and blotting process a bit, on a card I was keeping. I'd not tinker with the wrinkle of a card I was about to sell. I'd have no problem at all soaking off scrapbook paper from a T206 I was about to sell. If a buyer asked I'd truthfully answer him, and if soaking bothers him then he won't have enough money to buy a card from me.