The Village Idiot Speaks........
Gentlemen,
I just renegotiated my corrugated contract and went to the plant to see the plate and print process for the boxes I buy for my business. How does this relate you ask? Well it got me thinking on this topic of color depth and a conversation I had with the corrugator.
The darkness or color depth had to do with these things (best I can remember):
1.Pressure of plate to surface
2.Elapsed time of exposure to plate
3.Condition of plate
4.Color of stock (card)
5.Amount of ink applied
6.Color of ink applied
It seems to be proven that the Sovereign backs have color distinctions (#6).
I took it a step further with my Piedmont backs and compared the ink color used on the actual packs to decipher what the printing color goal should have been assuming the intention is to match the pack advertising. The packs are the darkest blue on the front slide advertisement and darker than any card backs I have. The side of the insert opposite the "Push This End" are an entirely lighter shade of blue that is uncommon to any of my card backs (compared to 67 Piedmont all-series backs but unfortunately minus any Fact.42). The Piedmonts that are the lightest shades all show signs of partially missing or faint lines on the borders and clear spots through the word "Piedmont" that supports low ink or worn plates, not enough pressure, etc..
Seems entirely logical that different colors could/would be different by Factory and Series one hundred years ago and that some colors would be more difficult to match than others. Perhaps green is one of those.
A few questions:
1.Were the packs and cards printed at the same factory? I have matched "Factory 25 Dist 24" packs to the cards and cannot make a color match. Probably due to differences in card stock.
2.Has anyone compared their Sovereign packs to their card backs?
Eric
|