Tag: washed out

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part Four

It’s probably not possible for us to ever know with certainty how many different print runs made up the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series.  I think it’s pretty clear there were at least three distinct stages, but beyond that it gets really tricky to say anything with certainty.

I was chatting with my friend Steve Birmingham about this topic recently.  Anytime I have a question the printing processes used for T206 production, I ask Steve.  He mentioned my observation about the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 and Sovereign 350 connection that I wrote about in Part Two of this series.  I noted that only 10 of the 34 subjects in the SC 150/649 Subset were printed with Sovereign 350 backs.  This was a departure from Old Mill, Piedmont 350 and SC 350/25 & SC 350/30 print runs which used the majority of the 34 subjects that make up the SC 150/649 subset.

Ten subjects with overlap between SC 649 and Sov 350fg, and only three of those seen with dark ink. That very clearly speaks to different print runs with different sheet layouts each time.

I have to agree.  Printing the Sovereign 350 sheets was clearly not as simple as just reusing the layout from an earlier 150 Series sheet.  This knowledge may get us closer to understanding the printing process, but it probably creates more questions than it answers.  The fact that they used just ten SC 150/649 subjects for the Sov350 print run may mean that it was relatively easy for the printers at ALC to swap poses in or out of a sheet.  If this was a common practice, it would be nearly impossible for us to recreate or make sense of the sheet layout for the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series.

I let that idea marinate for a little while, thinking to myself that this puzzle seemed not only immense, but daunting.  I had to chuckle when I got Steve’s next email.  It seemed we were feeling the same way:

Every time I get into this stuff I realize more and more that Heitman was incredibly right to call it “the Monster”.   It looks simple enough, 524 cards with different backs, then you realize that some “common” backs on some cards are anything but common.  Then you try to pin it down to sheet sizes, and print groups, and with outliers, and a handful of obvious changes during a run it becomes clear that even a few print groups aren’t really enough.  And that it’s more like 12, maybe more.

I also wanted Steve’s opinion on what created the “Dark Ink” and “Washed Out” cards that I’ve discussed earlier in this series.  Much like the questions I have about print layouts, there aren’t any easy answers.

Why they’re darker probably won’t be easily solvable.  One possibility is that the adjustments to the art between 150 and 350 were intended to save on ink- trivial for one card, but over several thousand it adds up. I can see ATC asking for and getting a volume discount, and also ALC cutting a few corners to preserve profits.  Of course, looking at Gilbert that makes no sense!  The red in the sky is far more extensive, so they didn’t save much by messing with the art.

Of course, the opposite could be true in a couple ways.  ALC could have requested that the cards look more vibrant, and darkening colors and adding a bit more of brighter ones would do that.  But it might have cost extra, so they could have decided to tone it back down later.

I don’t really buy the worn plates concept for the more washed out ones.  It’s possible, but they’re pretty common, and I doubt they’d run for that long on worn plates.  It’s more likely another deliberate adjustment to the art.  And a more likely cost cutting move.  Plates only lasted so long, especially when using stones. So they would have needed regular replacement.

I imagine I will spend more time in the future trying to make sense of it all.  Thanks as always for stopping by to read my articles.  And thank you yet again to Steve for helping me understand the printing process used by ALC in the production of T206 cards.

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part Three

I spent the first two parts of this series talking about the “Dark Ink” cards from the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series and what we can learn from them.  Now, it’s time to move on to the “Washed Out” cards.  These are cards that look a bit “fuzzy” and have muted colors.  They exist with the following backs:

Old Mill

Piedmont 350

Sovereign 350

Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 25

Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 30

El Principe de Gales stands out as the only 150-350 Series back that was printed during the 350 portion of the print run to not appear above.  EPDG backs were printed directly after the 150 Print Runs and before all other 350 Backs (Old Mill, P350, Sov350, SC 350/25 & SC 350/30).  There are not any “Washed Out” images with 150 Series backs, and there are none with EPDG either.  What this means is that the Washed Out images appeared later on in the 350 Print Runs.

The accepted theory on the “Washed Out” images of the 150-350 Series is that the printing stones became worn over time, which produced the images we see above.  The colors are less sharp and the lines are less defined on the “Washed Out” images than the cards printed in 1909 at the beginning of the 150 Print Run.

This is where the Elite 11 come into play.  The following 11 poses are known as the “Elite 11”:

  • Dahlen Boston
  • Ewing
  • Ganley
  • Jones, Tom
  • Karger
  • Lindaman
  • Lundgren Chicago
  • Mullin horizontal
  • Schaefer Detroit
  • Shaw St. Louis
  • Spencer

These 11 poses follow a similar pattern.  They were all printed with EPDG backs and Piedmont 350 backs, before being pulled from production.  They don’t exist with Old Mill, Sovereign 350 or Sweet Caporal 350 backs.

They don’t appear to have been pulled from EPDG production.  I’ve read that theory in the past, but I don’t believe there is enough evidence to support such a conclusion.  The only Elite 11 pose that is truly scarce with EPDG back is Bill Dahlen Boston.  He may have been pulled from production before the EPDG print run concluded, but it could also just be a result of a normal distribution variance.

“Elite 11” Piedmont 350 Germany Schaefer

So, What do the Elite 11 Have to do With This?

We know they were printed briefly at the beginning of the Piedmont 350 print run, and then quickly pulled.  I’ve made the observation over the last few years of collecting these cards that none of the Elite 11 Piedmont 350s have either “Dark Ink” or the “Washed Out” look.  They all look just like their Piedmont 150 and EPDG counterparts.

What this means is there were multiple distinct print runs for Piedmont 350 backs.  Initially, the fronts looked similar to Piedmont 150s, but by the end of Piedmont 350 production, some of the fronts looked “Washed Out”, and others were printed with “Dark Ink”.

I don’t know how many distinct print runs it took to create all of the Piedmont 350s, but I think it’s pretty clear that it was at least three.  The early run produced the Elite 11 poses.  They look the same as the Piedmont 150s of those players.  The “Dark Ink” and “Washed Out” sheets came later.  At this point, I don’t know if there is any way to tell which came first.  I used Piedmont 350 backs to make the point about the Elite 11, but the same patterns hold true for most of the other backs we have been discussing.

150-350 Series Old Mills exhibit the three distinct print qualities that I noted in Part One of this series.  That points toward at least three print runs.  The same appears to be true of Sweet Caporal 350/25 and Sweet Caporal 350/30.

Where Sovereign 350 Stands Out

It appears to me that 150-350 Series Sovereign 350s have two distinct print qualities.  There are some Sovereign 350 fronts that look just like 150 fronts, but most Sovereign 350s look at least a little washed out but with normal colors.  My guess is the majority of Sovereign 350 backs were printed towards the end of the 350 portion of 150-350 Series production when the printing stones were worn down.