1880s Scrapps Die Cuts

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Does anyone have a clue as to how these were distributed? Were they sold as singles? as sets?.....I ask because you rarely see more than one or two in a scrapbook at a time so that would point to being sold (given away?) as singles..and do you think they were widely distributed? or maybe just St Louis and Detroit areas?

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Posted By: davidcycleback

They were scraps, scaps being the general name for commercially sold diecuts. Scraps of the time are usually punchouts and sould in groups. The scraps were a commodity in and of themselves, and usually were not sold with gum or tobacco or such. I'm not aware that a scrap would be sold individually. Most scraps were made in Germany, so I would not be suprised if the 1888 Scraps were not distributed regionally.

Scraps were popular with kids, who regularly pasted scraps, trade cards and trading cards into albums.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Okay....I've been watching Victorian era scrapbooks on ebay for about the last six months and the Scrapps baseball "cards" come up pretty regularly in these books, but there almost always is just one or two in the book...every so often you find a group of 5 or 6, but you almost never see more than that, and it makes me wonder if they were sold in a punchout booklet or sheet form like a lot of literature suggests. Wouldn't it make sense that if the scrapps were sold that way that you would more often see them in groups?

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Scrapps = VCBC#36
Id like to quote the article, but I don't have it.

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Posted By: fkw

There are also other people in the Scrapps set (generals, etc.) with the exact same design, also same artist, also embossed, same size/diecut with small tabs (profile portrait) and name along the bottom edge in same font. I have owned quite a few victorian scrapbooks and have seen them a couple times (I never removed one, just resold the book after taking out the baseball ones). These nonbaseball player scrapps are scarcer IMO.

Next time I see one, I'll have to scan it and save a picture.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Frank, what has been your experience with the scrapbooks? Did you find the players in multiples or usually alone?

Thanks.

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Posted By: davidcyceback

Dan, in my experience, I've seen scrapbooks with one or two of the baseball Scrapps. I've never seen entire set or near set in in one scrapbook.

I'm assuming you're getting at that if a set or bunch of Scrapps were sold together, you'd find scrapbooks that contain a bunch of them.

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Posted By: fkw

Usually 1 or 2 per book is my limit as far as how much Im willing to pay, but I have seen a few books with more than 2. I have seen as many as about 8-10 in one book (a month or so ago there was a book with a bunch all on one page glued in a circle if I remember right). Anyone else see that one? I cant find it on a search now.


Update......OK I found my original picture from a scrapbook I sold a few months ago, luckily I still had the picture of the whole page with the "NonBaseball Scrapps Person" and cropped it and enlarged it a bit. Notice the name at bottom, and small white tab (back and top of head, and bottom left and right side), just like the baseball ones. These were issued in sheets I believe with small tabs conecting them to others. I cant make out the name of this guy though, but I think he was a general or a political guy.

Here it is below......

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Posted By: Mike H

In 1999 I found all but two players in one book for $200. A few were trashed, but I steamed them off and sold them to a dealer at the National.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

like the R&S 'Artistic' no-name player diecuts, they came in a 'sheet' with the whole set with tabs in between the players.

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Posted By: Daniel Bretta

The R&S die cuts are much more likely to be found in multiples inside scrapbooks than are the Scrapps in my observations. I really do not think the Scrapps "cards" were distributed as sets.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

The R & S are known to have been issued in sheets, as the complete sheets are seen found from time to time. A lot of the sheets aren't like an 8x11 piece of paper, but a bunch of die cuts connected to either like pieces for a plastic model (see below). I'm confidant the Scrapps were issed on sheets, but have not seen a sheet with my own eyes. It's possible that the Scrapps were not issued as sets, but one or two appeared on a potpouri sheet containing other kinds of die cuts.

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

So, thats what Burdick was thinking when he said he didn't care about baseball cards - young girls with short skirts and wings! That dirty old collector.

But they look very small.

And they should have tails too. Fluffy tails.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

1800s scraps include lots of little girly stuff-- flowers, princess and princesses, ballerinas, kittens, etc. Scraps (lower case, one p) is a generic name for wide vareity of little punch-out die cuts. The Scrapps (2 ps) baseball players is only a small subset. The R & S Artistic Series baseball die cuts are examples of scraps (lower case, 1 p).

Scraps were invented in Germany as decorations for cakes. They later evolved into items to be collected on their own. The designs of the early ones had to be sciccors cut by the kid. The later ones were pre-die cut. Most of the later ones are embossed.