Tape removal help.......

[tjb1952tjb]

I recently purchased this 1967 Venezuelan Retirado Bobby Doerr card. These cards are scarce, and usually have very bad condition problems. They were usually pasted into scrapbooks or albums. Do you think it's possible to remove the tape on the reverse of this card without further damage? If so, what's the best method? It appears there's no current damage to the card itself since the lettering is bold. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Volod]

Nice scan, but just looking at it, I would be very hesitant to attempt removal. It looks like the tape would almost certainly take paper with it no matter how you treated it or how carefully you tried to take it off. I imagine even "experts" in this area would be leery of offering advice, since they might be blamed for any resulting damage.

[tjb1952tjb]

Thanks for your response Steve. Any other opinions out there? Would be most appreciative to receive input from others............Tim

[ALR-bishop]

Tim--I have been collecting since 1957 and over the years sometimes picked up cards with tape as fillers or because they were scarce off beat stuff. When I was able to upgrade a taped card I would try removing the tape to see what would happen and never had any success, so I agree with Steve

[Big Six]

Would a blow dryer work...if the glue on the tape gets hot enough, might allow you to remove the tape with minimal damage...might just leave behind residue which is better than tape...just a thought...

[tjb1952tjb]

Thanks for the tips........much appreciated. Tim

[bbcard1]

I am pretty sure Bestine would work. It would likely not do anything to any coloration. You would have to liberally douse the area, maybe a couple of time. I have never had any experience of it "straining" I have even immersed cards in it (I had some early Topps basketball cards with stickers on the back) and it did no harm. It evaporates rather quickly, more quickly than even alcohol. With a couple of dousings, the tape should fall off. It is mega flammable poisonous and not particularly good for you, so bring rages and don't be stupid about it. I would advise to use gloves, but have never done so myself because nuance of touch is so important in such an operation.

FWIW...that's what I would do if it were me and the tape really bothered me.

[a761506]

Why is it important to try to remove the tape? Even if you got it off, there will be a tape stain that will be equally unsightly, but at least right now, the stock is mostly intact.

A hairblower will not help remove tape or anything else off a card.

Bestine is designed to remove rubber cement, it will not remove the tape any better than soaking the card in water and hoping the tape's adhesion breaks down. The stickers referenced in the previous post - they would have come off with a water soak.

With the vast majority of Venezuelan cards, if you are buying them from a US source, it is a good assumption that the best effort to remove anything stuck to the card has already been attempted. That tape looks like someone already played around with it, trying to get it off. You can see what looks like scraping right above the "L.," in "Cal.,". It looks as if the surface stock may have even been torn there a little bit.

I have dealt with thousands of Venezuelan cards, I know how to get a lot of things off them, but tape is one that that just won't go away no matter what. Kevin S. claimed he had some chemical potion that could remove it, but he was tight lipped about it, and I have my doubts unless given the compound's formula and attempt it myself.

[tjb1952tjb]

Thanks again for al of your input. Any other experiences/information would be greatly appreciated. You guys are the greatest!!

[dougscats]

I just bought a can of Bestine, based on your recommendation, bbcard1.
Hope it works as well as you say.
As it is, I usually steer away from tape-stained cards as I don't like them.
But I have a couple in my low-grade hall-of-fame collection.

I'll try it first on a '51 Bowman Stengel whose tape I hate.

I'll probably be able to put the Bestine to other uses as well, so thanks for the tip..

Doug

[bbcard1]

Good luck on the bestine. have had others poo poo it but have not found anything that works better for me.

[dougscats]

I got the can of Bestine and tried it first on two '52 Bowman beaters with cello-tape on the backs.
Both cards got pretty much fully soaked, and I used a cottonswab as an applicator and to repeatedly work the Bestine in. I'd say about 75% of the actual tape did come off, though the tape stains did remain, perhaps lightened a bit. Only where there was existing paper loss did any paper come off. Nothing fell off; I gently used my nails to get under the tape. In the end, after numerous applications, some of the tape still stubbornly remained.

I then tried it on the Stengel, immersing and working repeatedly on the lower left corner. The tape on this card had already been removed; I was trying to remove whatever of the tape stains I could. This card was definitely stained as a result of the Bestine, as you can see in the scan below. I don't think it removed much of the tape stain, if any, particularly in the back where there still seems to be a very thin layer of tape despite repeated applications.

I myself would not use Bestine on a valuable card unless I were willing to stain it. You also run the risk of tearing more paper off--where yours is torn--and of course if it were graded I presume it would be "altered."

I'm not sorry I experimented, though; I think Bestine will have its occasional uses. So thanks for the tip, bbcard1.

Doug

[a761506]

It looks like you only dipped the card in the bestine or kept saturating the corner area with a wet q-tip, which is why it is stained like that - total immersion is the only option when trying to work on a card with anything from water to the strongest chemicals, as it will ensure no stain like that - gotta take the plunge before all else.

Like I said with Bestine, you need to understand its purpose, and then you will quickly realize why it didn't work. It is for use with rubber cement. The adhesive on tape is a completely different chemical compound than rubber cement.

There are chemicals in tape that got released into the card beginning immediately after the tape was originally adhered to it. Those chemicals stained the card, and I do not know of any chemical solution that will effectively remove them from the card. Thus, a card with a tape stain will always have that tape stain. Not even a professional restoration service can remove tape stains from a card, I've inquired to all of the places and people that do restoration work on cards.

The problem with using Bestine in any application involving a card is that, aside from not be effective at removing anything that you're likely to encounter that needs removal from a card - it does not dry fast. Quick evaporation is essential in any chemical you would apply to a card. You don't want it peeling or bubbling the surface or further damaging the card because the card takes a while to dry internally.

The reason someone may feel they had success with Bestine and removal of something adhered to the card is simply because the adhered object came off. However, you could use just about any liquid, from water to wine, and if the adhesion will break down, it doesn't matter what liquid is used - the effect will be the same. The easiest way to think about this - an old postage stamp on an envelope. There are millions of cancelled stamps floating around, they have been removed from the envelope by simply soaking the envelope in water. The gum broke down in a matter of a couple minutes, and off the stamp came. The effect would be the same in any liquid.

[bbcard1]

Josh, I disagree because I have had success using bestine, but I agree...I soaked the cards...I used a surface like marble, poured a puddle and soaked the cards with the stickers on them. They come of cleanly, but the were not "pretty much soaked" they were soaked. It evaporates quickly and I had no problem with "wrinkling" like you would expect from water.

[Volod]

This is an interesting discussion (debate?), but is there some confusion here regarding the meaning of "stickers" versus "tape?"