Posted By:
John WojakI would agree that 99% of all pressing is done to increase resale value of cards. But I could also see a collector who has no intention of selling a card trying to press out a crease just to enhance the card's appearance to his own eyes, and to the eyes of those to whom he like to show off his goodies. I've never tried it myself - too chicken to actually intentionally subject any of my cards to a soaking or physical force. The only "alteration" I have ever performed is the removal of some scrapbook paper with water, a fingernail and a penknife. Works great on those old water-based pastes used in vintage days.
Here's a good theoretical question, though - which is worth more in collectors' and dealers' eyes (and those two camps may not necessarily agree) - a vintage card with an obvious crease that does not break the paper surface, or the same card identical in all respects except that the card shows no obvious crease but shows evidence of having had a crease and being pressed? Does just the suspicion/knowledge that it has been pressed, and thus "altered" in some way, debase its value more than the crease itself, or does its value now fall somewhere in between that of an uncreased card and that of a creased card?