Howdy, and welcome to the world of Straight Razors and those who love them!

Unless you are investing in them as a commodity or are a razor collector, scales don't really have to be perfect. Their main purpose is to protect the blade, and to allow safer handling of the some of the sharpest edges available to the general public.

Any defect on an item considered to be a "collectable" decreases its value, so I guess folks who view razors in that light would insist on mint condition scales. Of course, having mint or near mint scales on a razor is nice and enhances its resale value, collector or not.

Minor cracks don't usually affect the operation of a razor as a razor, but distorted and bent pins might cause the edge blade to contact the scale when closing resulting in chips or worse. Warped scales are not desirable for the same reason.

Proper care of a good set of scales should enable them to last the lifetime of the razor, or of the user. Scales made from bone, horn, ivory, and some plastics and hardwoods have lasted at least two hundred or so years, and scales fabricated from modern material like carbon fiber and corian and other "wonder" materials should be around long after we have been "recycled" by natural processes.

Hope some of this addressed your question.