1957 Topps color registration questions

[marvymelvin]

Just looking for some feedback on the 1957 Topps set specifically color registration. I have purchased two large groupings of 57's that are very clean with sharp edges and corners. Most are commons with a few team cards. I am noticing that as I go through them to put them in sleeves and top loaders that the color is sharper on some and duller on others. Some lettering at the bottom or team name on the team cards is either blurry or yellowish greenish and not very sharp. Faces on some of the team cards are blurry etc. The card stock looks and feels right, and smells right (most of you know that vintage card smell, a mix of newsprint wax and gum) but the color on some just looks low grade and weird. Does anybody have any comment about this?

I know that star cards have been raked but can't imagine that the whole set has been counterfeited. Again they are mostly commons. But some of the team cards look the worst. You can see yellow offset in the lettering and dark blues are just grayish.

Another thing that makes me wonder is there seems to be a lot more "big lots" of 57's for sale in ex-nm than other 50's sets. Hmmmm.

[jchcollins]

Differences in color and registration on '57 Topps is pretty common, as far as I know. For example with #95 Mantle, some have the black / brown / green coloring in the background, while others have the more subtle blues and greens working and (just my opinion) that latter is usually a much prettier card. If the card stock, "vintage" smell and other tell tale signs are on, they are probably authentic. I've never seen a fake '57 Topps that wasn't a pretty obvious one, but I don't suppose that means they don't exist this day in age.

[swarmee]

1957 Topps has awful registration issues.

[jchcollins]

1957 Topps has awful registration issues.


Awful centering issues too.

[Neal]

The tints for the issue are recognized by some, as there was a recent post on the subject. I guess not enough of a variation to be recognized as a variation, but I feel there is a variation nonetheless.

My thought is that besides the size difference, this was the first time that Topps was using "real" images for the cards, and some experimenting simply happened along the way.

The issue seems to be a love/hate thing amongst collectors. I love the issue, especially when you can find a card that normally is darker in color has the little bit of color pop to it.

[mintacular]

What you describe is quite normal

[ALR-bishop]

Similar thread, 1957 color tint differences, is on page 2 in this forum with numerous example scans

While it may be normal for the 57 set in general, the question raised in this and the other thread is whether two printers or printing processes, similar to what happened with the 62 greenies , were involved and deserve similar recognition. Although with the 62s there were also some pose changes

By the way, hello from Croatia