Printer's Scrap?

[steve B]

I forgot to mention that the reason a lot of scrap left the printers back then was that once was trash they'd have to pay to have hauled away was now something a clever employee could sell to card shops.

I saw two sheets cut up that I'd have loved to have bought, but the cost was just way too high. The first was an 82 Topps make ready sheet with a corner torn off and the card printed over the torn area.
Tearing off the corner was how the press operator typically marked the last makeready sheet before the stack of production stuff.

The other was a special sheet of just stars, usually in panels of 3. Topps offered cards by mail in 84, something like send in wrappers and some money for any 10 cards. designed to let people finish sets affordably, it ended with the expected run on stars. So special sheets were printed to cover the demand. Once in a while a panel will come up.

Steve B

[brob28]

Thanks guys. Steve, that is the kind of stuff I was referring to. I should have been more clear in what I meant in that these cards or sheets were not intended to reach the general public but somehow did. This kind of thing is extremely popular in the pre war world side but I never hear much about it post war and was curious how much of it is out there.

Al, those poor registration '58's would be worth a fortune if they were T206's. It's interesting that desire for this type of thing seems to be pretty wide spread in particular with the T206 collectors, enough so that there are pretty high premiums paid for them but they seem to be more a curiosity on the post war side. Of course, when making this statement I'm not referring to examples like the missing "A" Herrera.

[aelefson]

I have one. It is a 1967 Topps Tom Kelley, but it is hard to tell that from the front! The first scan shows the card right side up, the next one, upside down, and the final one shows the normal reverse.

Alan

[brob28]

Very cool Alan. Do you remember where you picked it up?

[Exhibitman]

I have a 67 like that as well. Pretty dramatic stuff when the printer flips the sheet between color runs



Leaf was notorious for it; check out the top 3:

[brob28]

Neat stuff Adam. What amazes me is how much of a premium people pay for this type of thing in the T206 "world". This type of thing (at least to my knowledge) does not command a premium in the post-war world. Still to me those are really interesting and in particular those '67's have a great look!

[steve B]

I think a lot of that goes back to Beckett.

Their stock answer about printing problems is that they're curiosities with little or no added value except maybe to player collectors.

For some of the typical mistakes and minor mistakes that's about right.

But for the more spectacular examples it's really not.

I think for T206 collectors some of it is that the set can be "completed" -at least to 520 or 518 fairly easily if you've got the money.
Backs can be had fairly easily too, at least to the level of around 12-13 of 15 brands, (Or 13-14 of 16 if you count the Ty Cobb back ) And 31 of 35 if you go by series and factory.
But misprints are a lot tougher, and add some interest.

I think eventually some errors will get attention in postwar cards. The trick is that some errors are more available for some years/companies than others. 71s missing the black on the back are more common than the same error for most years. Blank backs are pretty tough until about the mid 80's, late 80's early 90's they're common. That makes figuring out a value more difficult.

The ones I regret passing up were a handful of 72 Baseball printed on the wrong sides of the card - so fronts on the cardstock back, and backs on the white finished front. I only saw them mentioned in one small auction in SCD years ago. But the minimum bid was something like $200 each which was just way too much at the time.

Steve B

[tedzan]

TED Z

[brob28]

Wow, love that last Billy Johnson Ted!

[ALR-bishop]

Looks like anything that could go wrong did

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by brob28

Wow, love that last Billy Johnson Ted!

This card was in an original 1949 LEAF gum pack.....Incidently, its back is a normal printing.

TED Z

[tedzan]

TED Z

[tedzan]

Uncut 36-card sheet with missing colors














TED Z