Would you restore an antique battery or leave it as is?

I've got a couple of those old dry cells sitting on a shelf in my workshop, picked up from a barn cleanup about ten years back, and I left mine exactly as found. The paper on mine is torn in a few spots too, but I just kind of grew to like the rough edges. They read as honest that way, like the battery earned its creases over the decades.

That said, I don't think a light touch of conservation is wrong either. If a corner is actively lifting or flaking every time you move it, stabilizing it so it doesn't keep falling apart seems fair. I'd keep any adhesive away from the printed areas though, since I've heard of people dulling the lettering that way without meaning to.

As for selling, I haven't tried myself. Mine came with a box of old farm junk and I kept them because the lettering amused me, not as an investment. But I see similar items turn up at radio swap meets and antique tool shows now and then, ussually priced more like display pieces than working anything. Condition of the wrapper seems to drive everything, and yours sounds like it's in better shape than mine since you can read the whole label. If it were me I'd display it as is for a while before deciding anything. Sometimes you find you like the story it allready tells.

I did a light cleanup on one of mine, a Columbia from the 1910s that I bought at a flea market years ago, and I regret it a bit. I used a barely damp cloth to take the dust off the label and some of the gold ink came away with it. It still looks good from a few feet away, but I always know what's missing. Now I just use a very soft dry brush, like a clean paintbrush, and leave it at that.

For the frayed corners, I'd say leave them. That paper is so old it's brittle, and any glue or tape I've seen people try has either stained it or gone dark over time. If you're worried about it getting worse, just handle it less and keep it out of direct sun and somewhere with steady humidity, like an interior shelf rather than a garage wall. As for selling, I never sold mine, but I've seen them go for modest money at radio swap meets, nothing dramatic. Radio collectors mostly want them as display props next to thier battery sets, same as you'd guess.

I found one of these in my grandpa's garage years ago and it still had the old cloth wires poking out the top. No idea what they hooked up to, some old phone or doorbell thing I guess. Mine lives on a bookshelf now and the paper hasn't gotten any worse just sitting there, so maybe doing nothing is a kind of preservation too. Mine is pretty faded though, can barely make out the writing anymore. Does the value drop a lot if the lettering is mostly worn off?

That Eveready takes me back. Back in the 70s I worked a counter at a radio repair shop and we still had a few of the old No. 6 dry cells kicking around in the parts drawer, mostly for the bell circuits some customers refused to give up. Even then they were long dead, just shelf weight. On the wrapper question, I'd leave it be. The old paper wrappers were the whole sales pitch back then, and collectors I've run into at hamfests care mostly about how legible the printing is. Sounds like yours is all there, so don't touch it.

For value, try holding it up at a hamfest or an old radio club meeting before you list it anywhere. Somebody there can probably date it off the logo alone.

Update: after reading about the gold ink lifting off with a damp cloth, I went the safest posible route and just used a dry soft paintbrush to get the dust off mine. Worked fine, no ink moved. Now my question is storage. Does this paper wrapper care about humidity long term? Mine sits on an open shelf near a window and I wonder if that's asking for trouble over the years.