Cards that CAN and CANNOT be soaked?!

[ullmandds]

It'd be nice to compile a list of sorts of different types of vintage cards that CAN...and those that CANNOT be successfully soaked.

Can anyone add to such a list?

I have successfully soaked T215-1, e122, t206.

Any and all input is greatly appreciated?!

[vintagetoppsguy]

I have successfully soaked E92 and E95

[Bocabirdman]

I had good luck soaking a C46.

[Tao_Moko]

Attachment 101802Just got done soaking this one.

[atx840]

T210s soak very well.

[rainier2004]

Both 1914 and 1915 CJs soak - no problems

[poorlydrawncat]

I've soaked the following successfully (distilled water, never more than a couple hours):

-All Topps issues 1952-1970 (including Venezuelan issues)
-1933/1934 Goudey
-T206
-T205
-1934-36 Diamond Stars
-1949 Leaf

The only issue I've ever had with soaking occurred with a 1938 Heads Up Goudey. Some staining appeared on the car that was absent before. Could have just been a one time thing though...

[tiger8mush]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

Both 1914 and 1915 CJs soak - no problems

Will soaking a 1914 help w/the caramel stains? I've always been nervous since they are so thin, fragile, and sometimes brittle.

[conor912]

Great thread. Anyone ever try obaks or T3s?

[jbsports33]

Any R cards can be tough like Goudeys - but anything earlier is a bit easier - I think it was the glue in the 30s and 40s that make it hard – but we have had no issues with T206 type cards and even 19the Century - lots of non-sports are in scrap books, make good practice

[Tao_Moko]

I think there are mixed results on T209-2 but mine was not a success. Lost several pieces of the image and text on the back. May have been an isolated incidence but scared me away from future attempts.

Still haven't heard much on T207's. How does the gloss handle a soak?

[pencil1974]

Anyone ever attempt to soak a Donut of America card. I have one that has glue and extra paper (scrapbook) on the back but never have attempted on anything other than a "real" type of card before.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by pencil1974

Anyone ever attempt to soak a Donut of America card. I have one that has glue and extra paper (scrapbook) on the back but never have attempted on anything other than a "real" type of card before.

I am curious if you ever did this? Since the backs are blank I am not sure what good soaking is going to do? Plus they are all hand cut from boxes so the grade or appearance won't be helped too much.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Has anyone had any success with 1948 Bowman baseball or football. It seems that a high percentage of them have a brownish, dirty tint?

[ZachS]

Had a good soak yesterday. I picked up some T121 Sweet Caporal WWI Scenes cards and one of them had a glob of some sort of adhesive. I soaked it overnight and the next morning it started flaking off so I left it to soak all day yesterday. When I got home the glob popped off fairly easily. It left a slight stain where the adhesive was but it looks much better than it did. Total soak time was around 24 hours.

Before and after (the after pic was taken with my phone and doesn't look that great... the actual card looks much nicer):

[Harford20]

Well, using trdcrdkid's soaking thread, only varying a bit with warmer water, finally sent some of my 19th century trade cards to the depths. Was amazed at how well things went. Most of my soaking times were near 20 minutes before the old album just peeled off.

I did run into some "newer" attachment techniques on one set of cards that had paper on the back. OK, new question: has anyone ever found a "safe" way to remove double-stick tape without removing the back of the trade card? Is double-stick tape completely non-water soluble? I did try very hot water for as much as 30 minutes without any visible change in the tape. The cards still look 20x better without the thick paper on the back, but if I could the tape off it would be a total coup. Any ideas would be great.

Dave

[Stonepony]

I'd not soak a T213. I recently couldn't resist soaking a T213 Matty which had glued paper covering entire back. I'm not patient and it took 2 hrs of soaking and teasing the paper off with difficulty. The back came off ok, but that T213 sheen/gloss was totally lost giving the card a bland, washed out appearance. Lesson learned.

[kmac32]

Did a T205 this afternoon to remove scrapbook paper. Card soaked quite well and paper came off the back in about 2 minutes. Went to dry card and there was a small spot of glue that stuck to the paper towel that I was using so I took a wet qtip to remove the fragment of towel. Came off pretty easy but so did a couple of the red ink letters so decided to leave well enough alone. As mentioned earlier, T205 cards can be soaked but the ink on the back is fairly fragile so you have to be careful in drying the card and nit too much rubbing or you can lose ink. I echo Runscott's comments with respect to T205 cards.

[xplainer]

1914 Polo Gounds - No.
Tested one and it split in half. I guess two halves are glued together on this issue.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

I have to echo what everyone said and say that soaking is much scarier than it is difficult. It can really enhance the look of a dirty card and remove the paper stuck to the back.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by I Only Smoke 4 the Cards

I have to echo what everyone said and say that soaking is much scarier than it is difficult. It can really enhance the look of a dirty card and remove the paper stuck to the back.

+1 to this, Alex. I'm too scared to soak any of my cards. I know a bunch of you guys have done so successfully, but with my luck, I'd be the rare exception, and destroy a piece of history. And even if it was only some $50 card, I'd want to punch myself in the face a few times.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

+1 to this, Alex. I'm too scared to soak any of my cards. I know a bunch of you guys have done so successfully, but with my luck, I'd be the rare exception, and destroy a piece of history. And even if it was only some $50 card, I'd want to punch myself in the face a few times.

I thought the same thing but luckily it turned out well. My wife doesn't care much about my collection but she loves it when I have a card that gets to soak. We both think it is pretty neat to see the water work it's magic.

[marcdelpercio]

I have soaked thousands of cards, including examples from virtually every major tobacco and caramel set. Most of the bad candidates for soaking have already been mentioned...E94, E98, colored Exhibits, Colgan's. I'd generally also recommend against soaking Old Judges, Fatimas or other similar glossy photographic cards as they can stain and warp in ways that can't be undone.

I do not in any way look at it as an alteration, simply because it is not affecting the card any more than blowing a piece of dust off of it would be. True alterations like trimming, recoloring, rebacking, etc all clearly change the composition of the card by adding, removing, or changing some aspect of the card's original state. Soaking does not do any of these things.

To answer an above comment, soaking in distilled water will not in any way affect the ph of the card and "pyrolysis" will not occur unless you are soaking your cards in a thermal vent at the bottom of the ocean or something. In fact, the temperature of paper would need to get to around 200 degrees before that process would begin to occur as it is basically the first stage of fire oxidation.

[glynparson]

I agree 100%

[toledo_mudhen]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

+1 to this, Alex. I'm too scared to soak any of my cards. I know a bunch of you guys have done so successfully, but with my luck, I'd be the rare exception, and destroy a piece of history. And even if it was only some $50 card, I'd want to punch myself in the face a few times.

I had the same fears regarding q 1955 Topps card that I was considering soaking. I went to ebay and found a 2 low cost 55s with glue stains that were perfect candidates for soak.

My experiments resulted in not so great results as the glue/stain removal resulted in paper loss on both of my attempts.

So I'm not sure if 55s overall are not good candidates in general or if I really didnt do it correctly - I have stopped "experimenting"

[h2oya311]

I love when threads from 3-1/2 years ago get bumped! I still have yet to soak any of the cards in my collection. But I still have some old albums and a few cards that have significant paper/glue residue. I might give it a go soon enough, but still feel uneasy about the idea of soaking. It still feels like an alteration in my opinion.

[JMANOS]

Pre 1943 glue was water saluable(spelling?) and if u want to remove a pencil mark use a art eraser it doesn't damage the paper...u can buy at any art supply store.

[HRBAKER]

soluble, I think

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by JMANOS

Pre 1943 glue was water saluable(spelling?) and if u want to remove a pencil mark use a art eraser it doesn't damage the paper...u can buy at any art supply store.

Jim, solubility varies - even with glue as old as what was used in the 1800's. I've conducted experiments soaking albumens, and because of the various glues used, had varying results.

It's the same for lithographs - when we talk about whether or not a card is 'shakable', we are assuming that the glue is going to be 'friendly'.

[DaveW]

Does anybody know if M101-4 cards are soakable? I have 3 with black paper stuck to the back.
Not baseball, but I've soaked T68 and T218 cards successfully.

[ullmandds]

So far...late 30's goudey premiums are soaking successfully...although they are quite thin and extreme care needs to be exercised to avoid tearing them!

[sebie43]

If I am going to sell a card, I will not soak it, if Im going to keep it, what the hell its my card.
in most cases it drastically improves the cards aesthetics, but to each his own
Sebastian

[sebie43]

Has anybody ever soaked an E-75?

[Runscott]

I wonder how many soaked cards anti-soakers have bought that they love, unaware of the soaking, but that they would have considered to be too ugly prior to soaking.

[Runscott]

Until we see Todd's soak-o-meter, it is as irrelevent as wiping a booger off a card, which I hope no one would object to.

[rhettyeakley]

Scott, what happens when the booger-o-meter comes to market? Are all cards immediately worthless?

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Until we see Todd's soak-o-meter, it is as irrelevent as wiping a booger off a card, which I hope no one would object to.

Unless it was Mr. Christy Mathewson's Booger ~

[Goudey77]

Originally Posted by irishdenny

Unless it was Mr. Christy Mathewson's Booger ~

Wiping booger’s is evidence of alteration. Or better known as N-b00G under PSA guidelines. The DNA sample left from snot cannot be removed without foreign substances.

[Runscott]

Rhett - if we are ever able to date the added material on a card, what will be the accepted removsl age? e.g- 100 yr old boogers cannot be removed but you can wipe off yesterday's sneeze?

[BlueBlood]

here's an example, and both sold through Probstein recently...


http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950-Bowman-...p2047675.l2557



http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950-Bowman-...p2047675.l2557

[Runscott]

That Robinson was soaked?

[BlueBlood]

Originally Posted by Runscott

That Robinson was soaked?

Yes it is a lot whiter, and the stain on back is gone..

[sb1]

Um.......they are not even the same card.

[BlueBlood]

Originally Posted by sb1

Um.......they are not even the same card.

Haha you are very mistaken, look again..Even look at the black mark on back of card in the very center, now look at the other card..

[sb1]

Ok. I saw the first ones that popped up on the ebay page without scrolling down. So, you are talking about the 6.5 which is the same identical card, and still has the mark on the back, however the wax stain is gone, soaking won't take it out, that would have been chemical work.

[atx840]

Nicely done Bob!

[TipTopBread]

Has anyone soaked a D322? With what result?

[Chris Counts]

Here are a few 1941 Play Balls I soaked. They came out pretty nice. I'm not sure it was because the paper was high quality or the glue was water-soluble.

[caramelcard]

Originally Posted by TipTopBread

Has anyone soaked a D322? With what result?

Yes, i have soaked a D322. It held up fine. But, it always depends on what it's attached to or what is attached to the card.

Cards glued in albums with a card directly on the other side of the page don't soak off well.

And I'm not a big fan of partial soaking or using water on one spot of the card to remove something. It hasn't worked that well and can leave uneven color.

As I'm sure you know, D322s commonly have back damage. I haven't figured out why, but maybe you can shed some light on this. Might just be that a lot of collectors placed them in scrap books over the years?

Good luck.

Rob

[kmac32]

Add W572 strip cards to the list of soakable cards. Just did 18 today with no injuries or fatalities on the card front. Was a fun project and would do it again. Found old clippings of players from the era glued on black paper and then the W572 cards were glued on top of the clippings.