Antique map restoration vs keeping the original wear, what side are you on?

I picked up a 1903 rail map of Ohio at an estate sale for $12, and it had a big coffee stain plus a torn corner. I spent 5 hours carefully cleaning it with eraser shavings and wheat starch paste, and honestly it looks way better, but part of me feels like I wiped away the story. The stain was probably from some old station agent, and now the map feels almost too new. Do you all fix up your weird maps to look fresh or leave the damage alone for character? Has anyone else struggled with this call?

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grantthomas3d agoProlific Poster

Remember almost ruining a 1940s city map trying to scrape off a glob of old chewing gum with a butter knife. Tore a line straight through downtown and spent an hour patching it with tape from my desk drawer. Looked worse than the gum did, honestly. I get the urge to fix things up, but I've learned the hard way that my hands are more about causing damage than preserving history. The coffee stain on your map sounds like a feature now, not a bug. Keep the tape roll far away from that thing and let the old station agent's mess stay part of the story.