Tim, nice post.
I have often read that the T206 printing process contained six colors -- the ones you mentioned. I've always wondered where this theory comes from.
I've looked at a lot of T206s under magnification, and the oft-repeated yellow-black-brown-blue-dark green-red set of colors just doesn't match up.
I haven't examined Ritchey specifically, but if I looked at it I'd expect to see:
- Yellow
- Light Blue (seen as pure color in the doves in the sky, overlaid on the yellow to create the lighter green grass by Ritchey's shoulders, and used to show shadow on his uniform, particularly under his right arm)
- Dark Blue (overlaid on the light blue to create the darker sky, mountain or trees on the horizon, and overlaid on yellow to create the dark green grass)
- Flesh Tone (Ritchey's face and hands)
- Pink (highlights on Ritchey's cheeks and other areas of his skin, and overlaid on blues and yellow to create purplish section on horizon)
- Red (lips, hat, collar, belt, glove)
- Grayish Silver (used to create shadows, especially on his uniform)
- Black (hair, bat knob, glove)
- Brown (hair, bat knob, glove, name and team line)
Looking at your Ritchey examples, it looks to me like the main printing difference between the 150 series and 350 series examples is in the Dark Blue ink layer. In the 150s, it's limited to the lower portion of the grass, Dark Blue over Yellow creating the darker green (whereas Light Blue over Yellow creates the lighter green grass). In the 350 series examples, the Dark Blue has been expanded, occupying much more of the grass section in the lower part of the card (more dark green grass) and extending up into the sky (creating the dark sky around the "doves"). This was a change done on the Dark Blue printing plate.
Jamie