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Plastic Dog So today I sat down with a collector with the full set of T206s, and we looked at his real Nodgrass (touch of "S" showing) and compared it to his Snodgrass and my two Snodgrasses. All 3 of the various Snodgrasses were identical, while the Nodgrass was a little different. Here's what we observed:
1. The real Nodgrass has part of an "S" showing.
2. The real Nodgrass has a little lighter background, makes it look kind of orange, compared to all 3 Snodgrasses, which were darker red.
3. The facial features of the player are also much clearer on the Nodgrass card, while all 3 Snodgrasses had darker tones, most noticable next to the ear and over the eyes.
One theory:
1. The Nodgrass came first. But when the appropriate amount of dark ink was added for the background and player design, some problem with the "S" plate caused only part of it to print on the cards.
2. To fix the problem with the "S," more dark ink was added to the printing process. The "S" became fully visible, but it also darkened the background and overshadowed Snodgrass's facial features.
Pete, is this plausible based on your knowledge of printing and type-sets?
So, if I were an unscrupulous seller, here are some things I would do:
1. First, I would buy up all of the Snodgrass cards I could find at cheap prices. (I'm sure you would be able to check and verify that indeed I had purchased such cards.)
2. I would create some way to remove the "S" from Snodgrass cards. Voila - Nodgrass. But I'm not that smart, so I would probably take off all of the "S" instead of leaving a little. Luckily, no one realizes that the darker printing occurs only on "Snodgrass cards."
3. After I removed the "S," I would come up with some way to coat the top of the card with a thin, invisible layer of finish that would prevent the alteration from showing up in blue light (or on close inspection with a loop/loupe (sp?)). Luckily, most people don't realize that if they hold the card under a light, and gradually tilt it away from them, that at some angle (close to horizontal), the spot where the alteration occurred will become obvious. But nobody will notice as I can put this past the PSA graders and get my bogus cards slabbed.
4. As I am not that smart, I might try that with another Snodgrass pose as well (maybe him catching). Somebody's bound to buy it, even if it is statistically impossible that such an error would occur only on two different Snodgrass cards and no others in the entire 500+ card set.
5. I will effectively corner the market on Nodgrass. But will people buy my bogus PSA-slabbed beauties? Of course they will. (There's one born every minute.) Unless someone with legal training takes the time and contacts the right authorities to have me shut down. Mail fraud, etc., you know. Probably a felony, what with the prices these cards bring.
But I'm not an unscrupulous seller, and I would never do any of those things. Hope nobody else does, either.