T205 Bud Sharpe "variation" - stray line of stats on Honest backs
 

I recently noticed a consistent difference on the T205 Bud Sharpe with Honest back, in which a partial extra line of stats from Charles Hemphill appears below Sharpe's own stats.

https://images2.imgbox.com/45/e8/x1e6iJJa_o.jpg


I have only seen this on Sharpe cards with Honest backs, and every Sharpe Honest back that I have seen shows this partial line to some degree.

Here we see several T205 Sharpe Honest backs, each showing a partial line of text below Sharpe's 1910 stats. The height of the partial line varies from card to card, from a tiny sliver to a couple of millimeters.

https://images2.imgbox.com/7c/44/mRDx7Ne9_o.jpg


There is enough of the partial line visible to see that it is not just a repeat of part of Sharpe's 1910 line, though it is for 1910. Note also that the partial line is very slightly further to the left than Sharpe's own stats. (We also see an extra row of stats that is not in line with the other stats on another card - the Wallace no Cap "2 lines of 1910 stats".)

We see that the 1910 "Games" stat is 117 for Sharpe, but the second digit of the partial line is rounded at the bottom, and the third digit definitely has a base line and is not a "7". Similarly, in the Fielding stat, the second digit of the partial line is not rounded at the bottom, so is not an "8", and the third digit has a baseline, so it is not a "7", but that baseline is smaller than that of a "2".

After comparing that line to other T205s, I found that Hemphill is the match. (Which is interesting in itself because Sharpe is NL and Hemphill is AL).

https://images2.imgbox.com/a8/9f/hSSN3nhH_o.jpg
https://images2.imgbox.com/f7/c7/UJcFIy2M_o.jpg

This animation shows how Hemphill's stats overlay onto the Sharpe partial line.

https://images2.imgbox.com/b3/83/SJlj8FKr_o.gif


How many of these are there?

The grading company population reports aren't super-helpful. PSA doesn't break T205s out by back brand. The SGC stats will be very incomplete because nobody's been bothering to grade lower-condition Sharpe cards, and in any event SGC didn't always grade by brand. But we can at least compare Sharpe to other commons on those charts and get a sense of relative population.

Sharpe is what I would call a "less-common common", falling into the same group as Ames, Daubert, Devore, Jacklitsch, Pfiester, etc. It's not a "short-print" per se, but there are noticeably fewer of those than of, say, Bates, Bergen, Bridwell, Doyle, Mattern, etc.

For Sharpe, Honest is not the easiest back. In my experience, Sharpe is pretty common with Sweet Caporal black ink, and any other back is harder to find at any given time. If the Sharpe "partial line" were to be considered a "variation", I think it would be a difficult one, with perhaps a few dozen out there.


Is it really a "variation"?

I'm not super-concerned about whether a difference like this is an "official" "variation".
That said, I would consider it as much a variation as other differences in printed content that occur only on one back, like the Matty 1-loss (Cycle-only) or the Wilhelm missing "r" (Piedmont-only).


How did it happen?

This obviously isn't just a case of a stray line of type being left on Sharpe.
There must be something funky going on with an ink transfer cylinder and Hemphill being printed just before Sharpe, or something like that. Maybe someone with printing experience can suggest an explanation.

Michael, You have a SHARPE eye! I would agree with you that this is indeed a variation. You obviously put a great deal of time into identifying where the line of type originated. The animation was a novel idea and was very well done. You have a solid case! Thanks for sharing... Ed

I have this one, had not noticed the extra line before.

I think the problem happened in the layout of the plate/stone.

But it's a curious one, as it doesn't apply to the common conception that they were printed from type, or the way I believe it was done, transfers printed from type, or masters using transfers from printed type.

It "might" happen photographically, but there's little evidence that a whole lot was done that way at ALC despite their efforts at advancing technology of the day.
The black on T206s is a halftone probably done by a photographic process to make the masters. And ALC sued a couple guys who sold them a photographic process of making metal plates... a system which apparently didn't work, and couldn't work.

Nice observation. I think most of us collectors get a bit in the weeds with nuances in our little masterpieces. It's a lot of fun.