tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post6189237384868645332..comments2024-03-27T22:08:10.547-04:00Comments on Night Owl Cards: Trading card alchemynight owlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11673973790245316059noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-43634085804630481282015-10-05T16:13:29.153-04:002015-10-05T16:13:29.153-04:00I consider myself a purist in these matters. I don...I consider myself a purist in these matters. I don't condone the altering, not even for a card of my own that I would never sell. <br />Baseballs and cards have histories, and the scars and creases tell their stories, just like our faces do. <br />No botox for my eyes - no stain removal for my cards! Stealing Homehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818879297909675392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-32897650744011365762015-10-05T12:56:27.891-04:002015-10-05T12:56:27.891-04:00Great post on a topic that's filled with emoti...Great post on a topic that's filled with emotion and opinions...<br /><br />When it comes to most cards, I prefer best condition I can find, but for vintage I'm open to anything that fits the budget. 75's are the exception where I want to get the best condition cards I can. There's something about a really nice 75 that's tough to put into words.<br /><br />Opinions - I'm with Zippy Zappy it would take a whole post. The summary... I think us collectors generally know what feels right. Removing foreign objects like lifetimetopps said seems ok. Trimming a card is definitely not ok. Removing autographs - I understand the explanations but that just seems goofy.<br /><br />By the way, the Mint Condition book had some great stories including doctoring cards from Kevin Saucier, one of the experts. It helped me understand what to look out for. If anyone's interested, I followed up and wrote about Kevin and the book in a recent post here: http://1975baseballcards.com/book-review-mint-condition/Steve at 1975BaseballCards.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08091628519330650525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-33741894072852482252015-10-05T12:26:52.487-04:002015-10-05T12:26:52.487-04:00Buyer BewareBuyer BewareEggRockethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02595253834504194842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-67831557424926763892015-10-05T11:09:15.239-04:002015-10-05T11:09:15.239-04:00I really don't mind if a card is creased or wh...I really don't mind if a card is creased or whatever, as long as it's not horrible. That's the only way I can really afford to add vintage cards to my collection. As long as there isn't any ink markings on it I'd be fine with the card. <br />As far as altering cards, I am against it. Like Night Owl said, what's done is done. Its dishonest (just like pack searching) and gives the seller an upper hand. It's hard enough to find decently priced cards, and now with dealers altering cards, it reduces the number of affordable cards, so the people like me who can't afford mint cards have less to choose from and the rich man wins again. <br />Lastly, I used to collect autographs for many years, and I've heard of people erasing autographs on balls by using all kinds of methods. Sometimes it was to erase a signature of a scrub player off of a sweet spot so they can use the ball again ( if it was a single signed ball). Other times it is to do what was mentioned and make a team ball worth more by just leaving the star(s). The first method I'm ok with. It's just someone wanting to use a ball again. The second is akin to the card altering and pack searching. Just let us low-mid range collectors have a chance at something good. It's bad enough that we have pack searchers and people who buy cases of product, keep the hitz, and throw out the rest of the cards. There are many people who would take the common cards, there are tons of team collectors out there, and I'm sure it would help a kid start or bolster their collection. Let's just be fair and honest and everyone wins. Jeremya1umhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17631055539594841302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-19545476917113333052015-10-05T02:59:27.479-04:002015-10-05T02:59:27.479-04:00As somebody who doesn't sell anything, I'd...As somebody who doesn't sell anything, I'd prefer they left the cards alone. First off, the folks who are into doing such things aren't hobbyists, they're the speculators and investors--the kinds of people who have done everything in their power to destroy the hobby. So, to begin with, I don't like those people. (And, let's be honest, no actual collector or hobbyist--even those who sell cards so that they can buy other cards--is ever going to do this; so it is just "those" people, whom I already can't stand).<br /><br />Secondly, I certainly have nothing against a nice looking card and I do steer clear of the larger creases when I can. But I also have a special appreciation for the well worn card. Its got a history...a story to tell. I still have the Jack Fisher card that was the first card I saw in the first pack I ever bought back in '64. There's almost nothing left of it. Wallet cards are happy they don't look this beat up. That card can tell a story and, in that case, its my story. I wouldn't trade it for the same card in gem mint condition.<br /><br />Third, a lot of us--whether we're team or player collectors or both--are working on completing something. And that something usually includes at least one card that is so far beyond our means, there's no real hope of actually completing it. Unless there are lesser grade examples at lesser prices. <br /><br />I use this example to tell people the kind of collector I am. As a Mets collector, I had neither the Seaver nor Ryan rookie cards when I returned to the hobby in the 80s. Never got them from packs, even though I was buying them back then. I found the Seaver rookie at a show for $17. I asked the dealer what was wrong with the card (which already booked for hundreds at the time). He said it looked like it had been chewed up by a lawnmower. Didn't look that bad to me. Not at all. And for $17, I couldn't pass it up. I bought the Ryan rookie from my LCS at the time as a gift to myself when I quit my job to come south to be with my dying father. I'd stared at it in the case for years, but the price just seemed out of my range (at this late date, I don't remember how much was too much--$225, maybe?). It wasn't mint or anything, but it was pretty sharp looking (I might say Ex-Mt). Nice corners and all, a tad off-center. Today, that Ryan rookie is in a screw-down holder in a "safe place" where I never look at it at all. The Seaver rookie is in a binder with all my other Mets cards and I get to look at it every time I look at all my other Mets cards. Which one do you suppose do I enjoy the most? Which one means the most to me? Yeah, I'll take that $17 Seaver rookie every day over the expensive card I never look at. I know I should just free the Ryan rookie and put in it with my other Mets cards. I'm never going to sell it anyway. But I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. If you could "fix" or "restore" the Seaver, it would just end up somewhere I'd never see it again.<br /><br />And trimming is just about as sleazy as anything could possibly be. Those people should end up in the deepest levels of hell, IMHO.Stubbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07010142558613227433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-327399865331832662015-10-05T02:11:25.140-04:002015-10-05T02:11:25.140-04:00Re: soaking cards, here you go:
http://www.networ...Re: soaking cards, here you go:<br /><br />http://www.network54.com/Index/85540<br /><br />night owlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11673973790245316059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-40917010178043330362015-10-05T01:34:43.452-04:002015-10-05T01:34:43.452-04:00I agree with Shlabotnik. Doing something like gum...I agree with Shlabotnik. Doing something like gum stain removal seems fine. This is somewhat of a tongue in cheek story, but the point of it I actually mean in all seriousness. The other day my 3-year old came up to me when I was going through my cards and had just picked his nose. By the time I had grabbed a tissue, he had wiped it on his shirt. Not a big deal to me, but this post made me think - if he had flicked it on one of my cards instead of on wiping it on his shirt, I would wipe the booger off the card. That's not restoration, it's removing an object that's foreign to the card. If you're able to do it, more power to you. When I was buying 1980's cards for my project, I did that as best I could when I got cards with gum stains. So removing something foreign to the card, like a gum stain or a kid's booger seems OK to me. <br /><br />The other alchemy stuff is probably not. Though I'm not even completely sold on that. Like you said, it could be compared to restoring furniture.<br /><br />Last thing - I have no clue what this soaking you're talking about is! It sounds like putting cards in liquid?!!? Maybe that would get the stain off, but, I don't know - doesn't getting cards wet ruin them in a far worse way? I'm no scientist, but that sounds weird and iffy to me!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-61781563237124945282015-10-04T22:58:08.640-04:002015-10-04T22:58:08.640-04:00This is largely an academic discussion for me, bec...This is largely an academic discussion for me, because any card worth altering is way out of my budget, unless the card was exposed as having been altered (I did recently buy a "caught in the act" altered card like that at about 5% of the "uncaught" book value)...<br /><br />I will grudgingly allow the gum stain removal, because the card itself would still need to be otherwise EX/MT for it to be worthwhile and it's more removing a foreign material than making it something it's not. <br /><br />Removing unwanted signatures from a ball is kind of a dicey proposition... It seems extremely shady, but if the key autograph is not being altered or forged in any way... well... I don't support it, but I don't know how much I condemn it.<br /><br />Removing creases is just flat out wrong.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-86958448895619133982015-10-04T21:50:52.339-04:002015-10-04T21:50:52.339-04:00If it weren't for off-center, beat up and ding...If it weren't for off-center, beat up and dinged cards, my vintage collection would be about 20% of what I do have today.<br /><br />If it's too good to be true, then it probably is. That's my motto when it comes to vintage...<br /><br />Great story, thanks for sharingRoberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12317401112145746593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-27122582132701567462015-10-04T20:20:40.902-04:002015-10-04T20:20:40.902-04:00I haven't been to a card show since 2008. Sorr...I haven't been to a card show since 2008. Sorry, guys.<br /><br />That's weird. I would never consider it. I like my vintage beat up. It wouldn't even occur to me that something as permanent as a crease could be removed. Weird. No thanks.<br /><br />If it weren't for those creases, I'd own very few vintage cards.The Lost Collectorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07281282785351456790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700049103080920994.post-14418690463572173352015-10-04T19:46:41.764-04:002015-10-04T19:46:41.764-04:00"I went to a card show today."
This is ..."I went to a card show today."<br /><br />This is like the 69th time I've read somebody post that on this blogosphere this week. Did the stars all align for many of the bloggers to attend a card show in their respective areas around the same time (which is to say I went to a card show today as well)?<br /><br />"How about you?"<br /><br />Oy, this is one of those questions that calls for replies that are a good 5-6 paragraphs long and could've been/probably were somebody's college grad thesis. My short answer is, if someone is going to go through all of the trouble of getting rid of creases and autographs for the sake of getting more money, then those cards and autographs must be some of the pricier ones worth at least three digits on a bad day. And I personally am not involved in that part of the hobby so therefore it doesn't affect me and I don't care. However you're right, the line between prepping and fixing cards for good purposes as opposed to questionable purposes is very blurry.Zippy Zappyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06695389359056056119noreply@blogger.com