Quote Originally Posted by Eric View Post
" Occasionally, we will have items restored in order to improve their presentation quality."

As a buyer, I'd rather have something that's unattractive and real, than restored at the discretion of the auction house.
Eric
I agree. For one, as the owner of the item I would prefer to have control over the restoration. In most cases I think collectors use restoration as a way of preserving as many of the original aspects as possible. Auction houses on the other hand seem to use restoration as a way of enhancing the appearance soley for the purpose of resale. No matter how you look at it, anything that's been added to or fixed on an item once it leaves the locker room is completely unrelated to any game it was used in or to the team it was issued by, which does nothing for me as a buyer.

Stadium seats come to mind when people talk about restoration. Seems to be a lot of restored "vintage" wooden seats out there. I really don't get why someone would want a seat from an old stadium when none of the original wood is present, especially if it doesn't have a figural end. Some collectors/dealers like to enhance their bats by adding pine tar and other things to. Again, I don't get it. Why not take the football helmet with light to moderate use out to the playground and give it the pounding you think it should've had in the first place? Faux, collector-applied use is so unappealing to me that I would pass on buying something for that purpose alone...assuming the person who did was honest enough to disclose it.

-Jason