In the 1970s, I ran across a wonderful old sample book from Mutty's,
a distributor of all kinds of rubber cloth for player pianos and
organs.  It was probably made sometime between 1910 and 1920.

It included many types of cloth in several different grades.  It even
stated that certain lesser quality grades were included for those
desiring a less costly product.

Guess which samples had gone bad.  The samples of the most expensive
cloth were still pliable.

Art Reblitz