A question for the basket folks

I recently acquired a pair of Attu wallets from an estate. One is flat and the other has been stored as a cylinder for an unknown period of time. My question is, given their age, is it safe to try to flatten the cylinder or would it be best to leave it as is?

 

Do not try to flatten the round one
Do not try to round the flattened one

When you pick it you say a little prayer, thanking the grass for letting us have some of it, and that we won’t abuse it…It’s easier to weave if it is moist. If it’s not so moist it breaks all the time. You have to do that as you go along. We usually keep a little glass of water to dip our fingers in.

—Maria Turnpaugh, 2003

When being stored , the Attu , like the Tlingit would wet their baskets and flatten them out.
Buyers of early baskets....& robbers of early baskets would often come across baskets that were flat & many were destroyed for the lack of understanding that they had to be wet before they could be brought back to their original shape.

--- S.M.L. 2018