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Posted By: davidcycleback

Bill, the Old Judges started off close to black and white and have aged over the years. Most turned sepia, though you can rarely find some that are close to black and white. So there are natural variations due to aging. Though you'll never see one as black and white as in the above link. The ones that are still the original 'black and white' will still have light color to them-- just no sepia. The ones with the original colors were usually well stored over the years. BMW Sportscards had a high grade Old Judge they pulled directly from a pack, the card hidden from all light for over a century, and it had the original colors.

Speaking of identifying original colors, I took a class at a local museum on Byzantine architecture. The insides of the ancient churches were originally painted bright colors and patterns, but the colors/patterns were centuries ago faded away and/or painted over. Do you know how today's historians know how the walls and pillars were originally colored and painted? They look at the original stained glass windows, which are in color and usually show images of the insides of the church.