I don't consider soaking or pressing down a corner to be alteration and neither does PSA. Soaking just takes away surface dirt that was not originally there, and pressing is not changing the composition or changing the dimensions.
I also don't consider stain removal to be alteration. Again it's removing something that is not part of the actual card and was not orginally there.
IMHO this Mantle is clean conservation. They definitely did a little cleaning and pressing. No big deal.
I also collect comics and I think that the comic book community has a much more realistic attitude toward cleaning and pressing. For some reason sports card collectors prefer to keep their heads in the sand and pretend that these rampant practices are not happening.
It's a joke on them.
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Past transactions with ALR-Bishop, Fleerfan, Leerob538, Northviewcats, wondo, EconTeachert205
"Collectors were supposedly enjoying the pure hobby of baseball card collecting, but they were also concerned with the monetary value of their collections." House of Cards by John Bloom, 1997.
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