I hate bubble gum stains.........................
 

......on cards. To begin with, it's decades old and then it's turned dark from accumulating dirt and who knows what. I hate it, hate it, hate it.

I've heard that nylon mess, like those on womens pantyhose work well in removing bubble gum stains. Anyone actually try this?

All suggestions on safely getting rid of those nasty stains without damaging the cards surface would be greatly appreciated.

I have encountered two kinds of stains from bubble gum cards that occur from the packageing. Bubble gum and wax stains....The nylon or t-shirt material works well on the front of cards but I know of nothing that can help the backs. dave.

Gum
 

I have been collecting since 1958. My Topps sets from 1958 to 1971 were mostly put together by packs. I treasure those bubble gum stains and the memory of the smell of the cards coming out of those packs

My worst gum experience was in putting together the 1981 Topps Thirst Break Comic set. It involved sports comics ( it involved multi sports including baseball) wrapped around green slimy gum. The gum seemed to get slimier over time. To finish the set I bought an "un opened" box. It took forever to clean the comics I needed

There was an article online a few years ago that reported results of a poll on the subject of "smells or aromas most strongly remembered." High on the list was the odor of pink gum slabs coming out of wax packs. Apparently the olfactory center of the brain is closely linked to the emotional recall area, which...sorry about the tangent. Personally, I think the powerful memory has as much do with the first childhood experience with gambling and the excitment of hoping to find a valuable card in among the commons.
But, I'm with Dave - can't imagine any miracle treatment that would remove 50-year-old stains on cardbacks without destroying the card itself.

My lasting memory is the pain caused to the roof of my mouth, caused by the scrapping of that rock hard, narrow slab of gum when attempting to chew it. As a kid, my reflex action quickly became to immediately toss the gum out with the wrapper. I now wish I'd kept the wrapper. As for the gum, everytime I see that aged, dingy stain on a nice vintage card, I wish the gum was never a part of the experience.

I'll never get it, a hobby that obsesses over issues such as centering, corner sharpness, and color vibrance embraces those ranced stains on their cards?!

Hey, I've got an idea, maybe I can venture over to the B/T/S forum and offer to trade my memory enriching, gum stained cards for clean cards of equal grade.

Cards
 

When I was opening packs in 1958 and in the years thereafter centering, corner sharpness and color vibrance were not on my radar screen :) It was just a hobby for me then and fortunately nothing more today

I am with you Al. Often, I tell people one of my fondest childhood memories is opening packs of baseball and football cards and enjoying the smell of the cards fresh out of the packs.

My only regret is throwing out all those wrappers. Of course, my collecting started in 1975 so purchasing those wrappers now would not be as expensive as a task as it would be for you Al. :D

I sure remember opening all of those packs of 1981 Bowman and 1981 Fleer and smelling all that gum and chewing it of course! A friend and I bought boxes and boxes of the first issued cards that year hoping to get the variations and we had huge stacks of gum when we were finished. I always think of that smell when a see a 1981 Fleer.

Packs
 

Erik---I have a Topps pack run so I guess I could try to relive the moment someday, but it would be my luck the smell would be long gone and the packs full of commons and dupes...but maybe at least one card from each pack with one of those everlasting stains ;)

Ah, to go back into time...

Packmania
 

"You can never go home again" - Thomas Wolfe

Man ... can go up against gravitation in a balloon, and why should he not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or accelerate his drift along the Time-Dimension, or even turn about and travel the other way.

H.G. WELLS, The Time Machine


:D

Just saying...
 

"If you ever find yourself hurtling back in time towards the past...and you pass someone hurtling forward into the future, it would be best to avoid eye contact"...Jack Handy

Deep philosophical discussion
 

:DGood one, Al. Who was it that wrote those Handy skits - Mike Myers, Al Franken, Phil Hartman?