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Posted By: davidcycleback

Martin, it would be very difficult for someone to remove via liquid solvent a small portion of ink from a baseball card. Even if you put the correct solvent on the part of the ink, the ink doesn't vanish on it's own. The solvent essentially loosens the ink and you then have to remove the ink by tool. I've removed ink this way in a lab, and it's not easy. In theory it's simple, but in practice it's hard. Also, the types of solvents a chemist would use would not leave a grease-like stain behind, but would dry invisible. That's why it may be that the the Sharpe stain is just a stain, and is not from someone trying to remove the ink.

If someone told me he was going make rare variations by chemically removing the ink, I'd say "Good luck."