E103 Question Regarding Handcut or "Scrap" Examples

[Cooper1927]

I believe I’ve seen somewhere that E103 hand cut cards have been talked about. There is an E103 currently for sale that I’ve seen that looks like it may have been hand cut. Could someone point me to the thread or area I might have seen that talked about hand cuts?

Also, what are your thoughts about premiums or discounts on a hand cut E103?

Thanks all!


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[Rhotchkiss]

Hand cut, you mean like scrap? I am unaware of any e103 scrapped by the printer/hand cut. I think there would be no premium, just a good old fashioned A

[Cooper1927]

I appreciate the reply! I swear I’ve seen something about them in the past.


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[brianp-beme]

I appreciate the reply! I swear I’ve seen something about them in the past.

I don't remember anything about hand cut E103's, and couldn't find anything with Google search. Perhaps it was the M116 set that you were thinking of...?

Brian

[Cooper1927]

I believe I’ve seen that too, it may have been someone selling E103’s and there was commentary about them being hand cut. I also might be imagining things!


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[shammus]

Hi David! Hope all is well. I remember selling you a couple of your early e103s a couple years back and I'm thrilled you're still working on the set.

To answer your question of "where you might have heard that e103s had handcut examples..."...I believe that sounds like something that was brought up on a phone conversation we had at one point. I'm going to be in the minority here but I do believe that handcut e103s exist.

Generally speaking, e103s, as well as it's sister-sets - e107s and 1921 Oxfords - are exceptionally clean issues all around. Meaning, I've never seen a printing goof on an e107 or Oxford and I've only seen three oddities from the e103 set. The three that I've seen (and owned) are listed here -

1. Handcut Jennings with an exceptionally huge lower left corner causing the borders to be oversized when measuring

2. Handcut Donovan with the top half of the card appearing much wider than normal to the point where the card takes on the shape of a "trapezoid"

3. Doyle with a slight color pass shift.

I owned the Jennings and Donovan when I completed the e103 set for my first go around. I always regretted letting those two cards go but they were part of a complete set and had to go with the other 28 cards when I sold it...heh! The Donovan I recently reacquired and am thrilled to have it back to go along with the Doyle that's still in my collection. I'm still on the lookout for the Jennings though.

So, Donovan and Jennings would certainly qualify as handcut in my opinion. Both have exceptionally wavy borders and when the borders are oversized, it's a dead giveaway. I can't say these were considered "scrap" but maybe! I believe they were pulled out of the print run for one reason or another and cut up manually, but they don't seem to exhibit any sort of flaw that would make me think they were pulled out with the intention of "scrapping" or throwing away.

Here's a couple scans of the two e103 oddities I have. Like I said...they're few and far between. Are they worth a premium? Maybe to someone who goes after oddities such as myself, but like someone else said earlier, cards with oversized borders tend to end up in SGC A holders which limits their value substantially.

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out with any questions :)

[Cooper1927]

I appreciate the start - though these last handful have been slow going!

That Donovan is actually the exact one I was looking at when I posted this!


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[shammus]

Here's another example....this one arrived from REA just today....

475811

[Tao_Moko]

I'm confident that I owned a hand cut Ira Thomas. The back was more red than a normal wet sheet transfer and the borders were large enough that it wasn't a trimmed stock card. The front image was off register too. It was as scrap as I've ever owned I sold it in a lot years ago and have no idea if I have a pic anywhere. I will look.

[shammus]

Hi Eric, Would love to see a scan of that card if you happen to still have one handy. Why do you think the back was so red? Was it just simply a thick Wet Sheet Transfer?

[Leon]

Here's another example....this one arrived from REA just today....

475811

Nice hand cut cards....

[Tao_Moko]

Hi Eric, Would love to see a scan of that card if you happen to still have one handy. Why do you think the back was so red? Was it just simply a thick Wet Sheet Transfer?

It's either on a flash drive, or an external hard drive(that I lost the power cord too). Certain I have an image that I'll be able to provide at some point. The red on the back was nearly as bright as the red on the front. Not that it wasn't a wet sheet transfer, but not like any others I have. The back + the off register + the hand cut. I don't think anyone would classify it as other than scrap. I sold it to a buyer in Charlotte, NC with a lot of other cards ranging from pre-war to late 60's. Maybe a board member if you're reading this. I met the guy at a show and we connected that way and he came out to the house. No emails to refer back to. I never considered it a high value card and valued it less than $200 at that time. You know this story all too well - all the cards you wished you didn't sell.