"Scrap" and general hobby terms, possible revision?

[steve B]

Well, I don't really expect much revision to happen, but maybe to get some ideas working, prompted by the thread about a Yellow/Brown T206.

They're the most common, so most will directly apply to 206s, but could be applied to every set.

The use of the term Scrap for a yellow/brown got me thinking about how we use that term. As I said there it's a good catchall term for cards that aren't exactly normal and probably weren't pack issued because of that.

Most break down into a couple different "paths" my term for how the item would have passed through production to either release, the scrap barrel, or internal use.

The first "path" is cards that were complete or nearly complete and for some reason just didn't get finished. That can be anywhere from Simply not cut- perhaps because the sheet had problems far away from it, to cards that maybe just didn't get finished at all, but were intended to be finished. These would include, stuff like this Ewing, which is finished except for the cutting.


Or blank backs, or maybe the factory 30 no prints without the overprint on the reverse.
Most of that is probably just decent quality sheets that were leftover when the printer filled an order and moved on to whatever came next.

The second "path" would be cards that were not really finished because of obvious problems like being very out of register (despite how lax the allowable registration seems to have been. ) sheets used to adjust the presses in some way. Most of the spectacular ones are cards from sheets used as make ready sheets for multiple jobs, or with the back reversed from normal.
I would also put the Brown Old Mills and maybe the brown Lenox in this category. More the brown Old Mill, as I think the Brown Lenox are factory cut? Lenox in general is tough enough that the brown could be a group from a small order that was either first almost as smaples, or last just getting a few more to finish out the promotion.


The third "path" is to me much more interesting. Cards that were not intended for release, or simply waste cardboard used to adjust the presses.

American litho did sets of progressive proofs for a lot of what they printed for many tobacco companies. There are progressive proof books out there for a huge variety of cigar box labels. These books include a print from the master stone of each color, and various combinations of colors up to all colors. I think there may be a couple around for one of the non- sports sets but I don't recall for sure. I've never seen one for Baseball cards.
It's possible the existing proofs came from booklets of progressive proofs.

this would also include cards printed from the production plates to verify that they were laid out properly and registered properly with the other colors.
Typically in production the lightest colors are done first with darker colors coming later.
So a sheet with Yellow and Brown would be unusual. It's possible they did it to make the overall sheet more visible. Light Blue or Pink would make more sense in the overall process and provide the same function.

That makes me believe the yellow/Browns are progressive proofs from the production plates, and there would only be one or two sheets printed, most likely only one. The ones with a bit of red would probably be from sheet 2.
Why we haven't seen other combinations is a bit of a mystery, but that's perhaps explained by the fact that for instance a pink/blue progressive proof wouldn't look much like a card and wouldn't include a name. So it would be more likely to be passed over.

I believe they are proofs, and not simply "scrap"