Scrapps 1888
 

Picked up my first one last night but didn't know much about them in general. I guess a tobacco premium and die-cut. What else do we know? Do very few collect or just very rare and hard to fine? Glue from scrap book always keeps value down? Or what? They seem pretty striking--in photos.

I don't know a ton about the issue, but I do have one '88 to contribute. Back is clean, with no residue of any kind. Petralli has never been too tough.

Best,

Andy

Hi-
I could be way off base, but I do not believe these were tobacco items. I believe they were issued in team panels with tabs and were meant to punch out and paste in scrapbooks. There are dozens of similar nonsports ones (I have some but will need to dig them out, the Nonsports forum has a bunch if you search it).
I like them but have yet to acquire a baseball one. The only way I want to do that is finding one in a scrapbook so it might be awhile. Nice pickup!
Alan

I'm with Alan...I don't believe they had any connection at all to a tobacco product. They were die cuts made to be glued into a scrapbook. They are great pieces nonetheless, with terrific artwork.

That Petralli is a beauty :D

Greg, I've heard that the 1887 or 1888? Scrapps were once part of a larger "poster" with multiple lithograph diecuts. The ones that I own all have back damage or residue and it's tough to find them in good condition. It is likely that they were punched out and then added to scrap books. In fact, I have 1 which is attached to a scrap book sheet along with another baseball diecut. I'd love to see the poster come up for auction with multiple baseball diecuts (scrapps) but not aware of any out there.

They tend to be tougher to find but don't command the premium that one would expect unless they're a HOF and/or in VG+ condition.

http://www.oldcardboard.com/n/scrapp...?cardsetID=683

Because of the way they were constructed, they are very fragile and easily damaged. Pretty much the only way they could have survived intact was by being pasted into a scrapbook. The chance of finding one that was never glued in is small because it would have been so hard for it to survive. That's why almost all are found with glue residue. There was a group found a few years ago where the players were still attached in their original form, and that was really something special.

The are scaps, scraps being die cut figures that kids collected and often put into albums in the 1800s. Scraps can be animals, flowers, pirates, etc. These happen to be baseball players. So scraps is a large genre.

See the article: The Victorian Scrap

Greg- I was just looking at the October pickups thread, and saw that the Scrapps you got (nice card) is in an SGC holder which reads "Scrapps Tobacco." They really should change that title as it is an error. No connection to a tobacco product has ever been demonstrated.

Is there an image of the intact scrapps sheet somewhere?

If memory serves, REA had the uncut strip. I would check their archives, hopefully it's there.

My memory has not served me well. I realized this morning that REA had instead a set of 19th century generic diecuts in its original form. It wasn't a sheet of Scrapps. So I stand corrected.

Well I guess these may be the closest thing to an uncut strip of Scrapps!!

I wonder if some of the attached ones can shed some light on how they were distributed given the "H.D.S. & Co" tab along with others showing "H&S" and numbered tabs.

http://www.memorylaneinc.com/site/cats.asp?catid=13

here is a few..

picked up the Latham from an antique store for $3.00. (written correctly)

Those are some beautiful Scrapps in Memory Lanes last offering. Interesting to see some of them still attached. The ~$2500 for Hanlon and Thompson must be a new record price. Despite being a 19th century Detroit collector and Scrapps being semi attractive, I've yet to collect them. Maybe some day.

Not a tobacco premium. Issued in full sheets for scrapbooking which was popular in the late 1800s like the Artistic set of 10 team die cuts.

Tik and Tik used to have a full set of both teams as full uncut sheets.

Yeah, the prices were very strong across the board for all the attached Scrapps. The combination of great condition and uniqueness of the attached pieces obviously contributed but I'm happy collecting the lower end ones which are more affordable.

Wow Dan, that's really interesting to know an uncut sheet may be out there!