ShareThisDear Babe: I have my father's collection of baseball cards from the mid-1930's. They are primarily National Chicle cards. Unfortunately almost all of the cards are pasted in scrapbooks. Any suggestions for how best to salvage them? I assume that pasting in a book has a significant impact on value. -- Kip Fraasa, Marietta, Ga.
Right you are. Pasting generally hammers the value. Generally the answer is that there's not much to be done for cards damaged by being glued into scrapbooks. However, Dick Towle, owner of Gone With the Stain in upstate New York says he can remove ink, water stains, gum stains and glue.
I did a phone interview with Towle in November 2002 when his company was five years old. Sports Collector Daily's Chris Nerat just published a long interview that appeared in the Oct 24 issue. Add that up and Towle has been around for more than a decade, so maybe what he has to offer works for some. Nerat reported that SCD folks couldn't spot anything on "cleaned'' cards. Towle said in the article that several grading companies have failed to detect his work. Of course, this leads to the question of whether the whole process is ethical.
"Some think it's good for the hobby, while others consider it borderline taboo,'' Nerat wrote. When I interviewed Towle he said that he removed a complete 176-card Cracker Jack set (1915) that "was actually glued into an album.'' At the time The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards from the editors of Sports Collectors Digest listed the set at $60,000. Towle said that after he was done, the set, once formerly pasted in an album, sold for $65,000 to a national dealer. Towle said the dealer had the cards graded and ended up with a $108,000 profit after selling off individual cards. Here's a link to the Nerat article: http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.com/article/nerattowle/.
Dear Babe: My mother in law bought a set of Nestle's cards from a magazine that came with a pronouncement that they were not reproductions. -- Bob Olson, Newburyport, Mass.
Despite the advertisement claims, this set is not that scarce. Beckett's Almanac of Baseball Cards and The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards from the editors of Sports Collectors Digest list the 1987 Nestle Dream Team 33-card set at $10-$15. The cards were available in three-card packs included in some Nestle candy products. The cards were also available through a mail-in offer. The set is an inexpensive way to get a lot of Hall of Famers since every player in the set is enshrined in Cooperstown. Top cards are Babe Ruth (No. 3), Mickey Mantle (17) and Roberto Clemente (27).
Dear Babe: In 1947 or '48, I got a baseball signed by 10 Cincinnati Reds players: Jim Blackburn, Augie Galan, Harry Gumbert, Ben Z..., Hank Sauer, Johnny Vander Meer, Phil Page, Danny Litwhiler, Frank Baumholtz and Ewell Blackwell. -- Joe Keesling, Clermont, Fla.
"Ben Z.'' would be Benny Zientara. Page was probably the pitching coach. You really need to have at least 18-20 signatures for it to be considered a team signed ball. Mike Gutierrez, consignment director for Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com) in Dallas, said it is probably worth $50-$75.
(Send card questions to Babe Waxpak, PO Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 or e-mail babewaxpak(at)charter.net. If possible, include card number, year and brand or a photocopy. Please do not send cards. For Babe Waxpak's blog, see www.scrippsnews.com/waxpak. Babe Waxpak is a feature of The Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
