This is the most common disappointment in the category and it is entirely predictable from the finish.

What aniline means

Aniline leather is dyed through and left with its surface open — no pigment layer, no coating. It is the most beautiful leather there is, it develops a patina, and it is what people mean by real leather.

Open surface means porous. Anything oily that touches it goes in rather than sitting on top, and there is no cleaning process that reliably reverses it.

Why that is fatal here specifically

Think about who touches a check presenter and when. It is handed to somebody at the end of a meal, so their hands have been holding food for an hour. It goes back to a till, gets wiped, and is set on a table that may have something on it.

No other folder in hospitality takes that combination. A menu cover is handled at the start of a meal by clean hands. A padfolio lives in a bag.

What sealed actually means

A pigmented or protective topcoat sits on the surface of the hide. Oil lands on the coating rather than in the leather, and a damp cloth removes it.

You can seal full grain and keep the grain, the weight and most of the character. It is a small compromise in feel and it is the difference between a folder that is presentable in year three and one that is embarrassing in month two.

And check where they are stored

Most of the badly damaged leather presenters we get shown were not worn out by guests. They lived on a shelf near a pass or a glasswasher, and steam did it.

Move the shelf. It is free and it is frequently the whole problem.