mendlab35 – Pokemon Card Restoration

Card: Charmander
Number: 46/102
Set: Base Set 1st Edition
Year: 1999
Artist: Mitsuhiro Arita

Diagnosis

• This card is pretty cooked. Heavy creasing in the upper right front quadrant, bends from the creasing, and punctures of various degrees in the same region.
• Specks of dirt in the front and back.
• Lifting and whitening on the edges and corners.

The Restoration Process

1. Clean off specks of dirt on the card surface.
2. Saturate the card with moisture and light press for 30 minutes. Check on card after first 15 minutes to monitor progress.
3. Smooth out punctures from the back with smoothing tool.
4. Card repair tool on corner and edge lifts.
5. Card repair tool on creases.
6. Dry press for 36 hours.
7. Significant improvement after pressing, but could still feel a couple of creases.
8. Localized heat pen spot treatment to further reduce creasing, successful.