What is scrap and what isn't?

[packs]

I consider a scrap to be an unfinished card. So if you have a card that is completely printed but may be miscut, that is not a scrap. There should always be something unfinished about a scrap. If there are color shifts or overprinting of colors on an otherwise completely finished card, that card is not a scrap. It is simply mis-printed. At least in my opinion.

[frankbmd]

Scrap (on the market today) is the result of nefarious underpaid janitors who were trying to cash in on the side. Unfortunately none of them lived long enough.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Scrap (on the market today) is the result of nefarious underpaid janitors who were trying to cash in on the side. Unfortunately none of them lived long enough.

The janitors and other employees might have back doored a small percentage. My uncle worked for one of the big guys for several years and the company would actually sell the scrap and print errors directly to error/variation dealers. They also sold huge lots of star players directly to dealers.

[Leon]

To me, this McGraw is scrap (Crandall shown for example purposes), but some other things people say are scrap, aren't. Maybe we are getting a bit too lenient with the term?

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Leon

To me, this McGraw is scrap (Crandall shown for example purposes), but some other things people say are scrap, aren't. Maybe we are getting a bit too lenient with the term?

Everybody wants their CRAP...to be SCRAP...because SCRAP..has become synonymous with SCRATCH!

[packs]

I don't think Brown Old Mills are scraps. They were unissued cards. They are complete and there is nothing missing from them that would differentiate them from issued cards. A color shift is not a scrap. A scrap is an incomplete card.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think Brown Old Mills are scraps. They were unissued cards. They are complete and there is nothing missing from them that would differentiate them from issued cards. A color shift is not a scrap. A scrap is an incomplete card.

I agree!

[Bocabirdman]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

Everybody wants their CRAP...to be SCRAP...because SCRAP..has become synonymous with SCRATCH!

To paraphrase George Carlin, "Have you ever noticed that your crap is scrap and other folk's scrap is crap?"

It is sort of along the same line as two signs in the store window, "We buy Junk!" "We sell Antiques!".

[Exhibitman]

I've always thought of anything that went out of the factory as intended--whether as an insert, salesman sample, or otherwise--that has a collectible error as a misprint-miscut-wrong back, etc. "Scrap" to me means something clearly handcut or uncut that did not go out through normal distribution channels. This is a misprint:



This is a scrap:



Both are collectible, IMO, so the difference is really just semantics.

Uncut sheets and partial sheets I consider a subset of scraps. They were never intended to go out that way but were likely salvaged from the trash or pulled and saved by the company. Again, doesn't really matter since they are highly sought after by collectors.

[atx840]

Originally Posted by packs

I consider a scrap to be an unfinished card. So if you have a card that is completely printed but may be miscut, that is not a scrap. There should always be something unfinished about a scrap.

Yep, as well as being handcut. Some upside down backs & all brown OMs are finished and are scrap.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by atx840

Yep, as well as being handcut. Some upside down backs & all brown OMs are finished and are scrap.

For sake of debate, why are Brown Old Mills considered scrap? Is the fact they are hand cut, but don't have other issues, still make them scrap?

[dog*dirt]

Originally Posted by packs

I consider a scrap to be an unfinished card. So if you have a card that is completely printed but may be miscut, that is not a scrap. There should always be something unfinished about a scrap. If there are color shifts or overprinting of colors on an otherwise completely finished card, that card is not a scrap. It is simply mis-printed. At least in my opinion.

I think the definition of scrap as an unfinished card is accurate as it was intended to be discarded and not to be put in circulation. Cards that have certain "printing errors" such as missing color, miscut or multiple strikes, that made it into circulation are just that as in they are errors and not scrap imo.