I find myself constantly torn from a hobby standpoint on what's a "true" variation and what's a print defect. The 1960 Faye Throneberry "Yankees variation" is to be my litmus test of sorts. These were
clearly created due to proof sheets that were caught and fixed before the full print run was put to press and issued. This card therefore becomes an interesting proof card, but becomes part of the collection related to other ephemera of interest, not part of an official set (or more importantly for someone that collects for completeness, not something I'm missing to close out a set).
How I've decided to generally put a card on the side of VAR vs. printing defects is what the grading companies will classify. Its very ironic given that I'm by and large anti-grading (too subjective, wild conflicts of interest, cost, speed - I can go on), but I also recognize that's where the hobby has gone. The PGCs recognizing and slabbing a variant makes it to me "part of the set", where they generally put "Authentic" for samples, proofs, etc (or won't grade them at all).
Quote:
Originally Posted by ALR-bishop
Thanks Brian. While I have I have the Campos black star, a partial black star and a partial missing front border, I would view them as scarce print defects. But the hobby has long classified the black star as a variation and it is included in most master checklists for the 52 set
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