There is a lot of confusion and misinformation out there with regard to T206 ghosts. As a result, collectors are often hesitant to collect them, for fear of being taken advantage of. It doesn’t help that many sellers misrepresent what they are selling. So, let’s get into it.
“Ghosts”
A “ghost” is a card that has one or more layers of ink printed out of registration in a way that creates a “ghost-like” effect. The McBride above has a ghost printed in light black ink slightly above and to the left of the main image. The Hoblitzell below has the ghost off to the right of the main image. You’ll also notice part of the card that was printed to the left of Hoblitzell is also visible. These are the most fun types of ghosts to find, as it tells you which player was printed next door to Hoblitzell. In this case, Hoblitzell’s sheet-mate is Art Fromme.
Ghosts can occur on either the front or back of a T206, though the front is much more common because there were a number of color passes that could possibly get out of alignment. Some front ghosts (like Hoblitzell) were factory-cut, while others (like McBride) were scrapped at the factory, and later hand-cut from a sheet.
Ghosts that appear on the back of the card are referred to as “Cylinder Print Ghosts”. There was at least one sheet of Piedmont 150s where a black outline ghost of the image on the front was mistakenly printed on the back. You can check out the article by clicking the link below:
Cylinder print ghosts usually sell in the $1000 plus range. Front ghosts like the McBride and Hoblitzell shown sell for a premium as well, but nowhere near as much as the cylinder prints. Though the market for “T206 Print Freaks” can be volatile, I would expect McBride and Hoblitzell to sell for at least $200.
The one thing all ghosts have in common is the “ghost” was printed on the card in the factory. This is an important distinction because I constantly see sellers trying to sell a card that merely has a transfer on it as a ghost. The purpose of this article is to help you understand the difference.
Wet Sheet Transfers
Wet sheet transfers (also commonly referred to as WST) are different from ghosts in that they are not printed directly on the card. Rather, they are a transfer of ink from one card to another. When T206s were printed, an entire sheet of fronts was printed, then put onto the stack of completed sheets. Then the next sheet was printed and added to the stack. The vast majority of sheets were completely dry before being added to the stack, but occasionally the ink hadn’t quite dried. This led to a transfer of ink from one sheet to the other. Because the sheets were stacked, a transfer was only possible from the back of one card to the front of the card on the adjacent sheet, or vice versa.
WSTs occurred most often with black ink, and specifically black ink from the back advertisements. My guess is the black ink took longer to dry, leading to transfers when the fresh sheet of backs was placed on top of the stack. As a result, the vast majority of wet sheet transfers out there are Cycle, Old Mill, or Tolstoi backs which have WST of the back advertisement on the front. These transfers vary in intensity. Some are very faint and hard to see, and some are very dark and obvious.
The other type of WST is a transfer of ink from the front of a card onto the back. These are often pretty faint and tend to be a vague outline of the front of the card. The back of the Joss Portrait below is an example of such a WST. Typically, WSTs on the back of a card are not very impressive, just like this one.
It’s important to understand that wet sheet transfers are not ghosts. Ghosts are much more rare and valuable. They are also more impressive and interesting to look at. Sadly, there are sellers who try to pass WSTs off as ghosts. You’ll occasionally see a WST listed on eBay as a ghost and priced at some insane price. Hopefully, as people become more educated about this subject, those type of listings will start to go away. Unlike ghosts, WSTs do not command much of a premium (if any) when they sell.
Post-Factory Transfers
The third type of transfer is one that happens after the card leaves the factory. Typically this type of transfer is caused by some sort of moisture damage. I’ve seen cards that were clearly in a stack that got soaked in water. Many cards with post-factory transfers will also have paper loss as a result of the cards being stuck together and then separated. These post-factory transfers will usually be faint and not at all precise. A wet sheet transfer of an Old Mill back is a precise transfer of the back onto the front of the card. Post-factory transfers are not like that. There is a lot of color bleed in a post-factory transfer. The Seymour below is a good example. It has the tell-tale paper loss on the back, and the transfer of the Sweet Caporal ad onto the front is faint and indistinct. It kind of looks like a watercolor copy of the ink of the back of the adjacent card in the stack. Though post-factory transfers are fairly uncommon, they don’t usually command any premium when they sell.
