Good post, Al!
I have struggled with my opinion on card restoration since I returned to the hobby for the very reasons you cited.
Take a work of art, like the Mona Lisa, for example. I think for me the distinction is that there will only be the one painting in existence, and if a restoration is done, it is by somebody that has made it their profession. The Mona Lisa retains it's value regardless of how brilliant the painting looks. If it's restored, it is done for reasons of aesthetics (the likelihood of the painting getting damaged is low). With baseball cards, where more than one of each exist, restoration is done to drive up the card's value on the open market.
Like you, I don't have the ability to do it, and I wouldn't have a clue how to restore a card if I did. But when I think of a card being restored, I think of somebody looking to jack up the price of their card on Ebay. If the alteration is disclosed, I can at least live with it. But too often, it is done by an unscrupulous seller, and not disclosed.
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