Posted By:
J HullHi Ted.
Yes, that's exactly what I'm referring to.
I think your mention of printing press dimensions is an important one. The more we know about the presses of the day,
the more insight we'd get into things like sheet size.
I also think that while looking at the total cards included in each series (150, 350, 350-460, 460-only, Southern
Leaguers, etc.) is valuable, we've learned from the numerous surveys conducted here on the board (largely led by Ted Z)
that not each card in each series was printed with all theoretically possible backs. Correct me if I'm wrong,
but not every 350-only series card has been verified with an American Beauty back, or an Old Mill back, or a Cycle 350 back, etc.
To me it seems clear that if 350-only series Card A is possible with an American Beauty back and 350-only series Card B
is not possible with that back, those two cards were not printed from the same printing plate. It does not necessarily
follow that if card A and card B DO both have American Beauty backs that they were printed from the same plate either, because
a card may have appeared on more than one plate. But I think that adding in our knowledge about available back brands is
key to this conundrum of sheet makeup.
So here's an easy-ish example. What's the number of 150 series cards confirmed with Sweet Caporal 150,
Factory 649 overprinted backs? My notes say 34. How does that number (or whatever the correct one is) fit
into things?