There's been a very interesting thread on the PSA message boards recently so I thought I'd mention it here and get some more opinions. A collector purchased a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle that was colored/altered a long time ago and has asked for advice from the board members on what they would do with it. Here's a link to the thread:
Thread.
The options appear to be: 1) Keep it as is (the collector is trying to complete a low-grade 1952 Topps set), 2) Have it restored. If it were restored, the card would then be sold and hopefully finance another low-grade Mantle along with a bunch of other singles to help complete the set.
As far as grading is concerned, PSA would grade it as "Authentic". Whether it was restored at this point or not does not influence that. The card is authentic, but has obviously been altered so it would never get a numberical grade. There is a very strong market for altered cards, especially one of this value since most collectors could never even consider owning a nice 1952 Mantle unless it were restored. Here's a couple of examples of recent altered versions of this card:
Example 1,
Example 2.
The board suggested several restoration experts, but the catch is you won't find one that will guarantee their work. This is completely fair since they never know completely what they are getting into and you shop according to their reputation. But looking at the closing prices of the restored cards above ($6,500 and $7,500 if you didn't click on the links above), it's worth the trouble.
My take on it: The only decision I would be making is which restoration expert to send it to. Since I talked to the owner of this card over the weekend and know what he paid for it, I'm willing to bet the cost of the card and cost of restoration aren't going to come close to the potential price once it's done. There's also no ethical issue involved here either since the only thing a collector could do with a card like this to make sure nobody ever tried to deceive anyone with it in the future would be to burn it immediately. And I don't think that's going to happen.