Perhaps, I should've posted this thread in the post-WWII section of this forum; however, I feel this story is interesting and should be presented
to the larger audience inherent in the pre-war section.
OK, my story begins in the late 1970's (and early 1980's) when the common thinking regarding the 1954 BOWMAN Ted Williams card was "rare"
because it's "printing plate broke". This "broken plate" myth was often the explanation for any rare card in the hobby that couldn't be explained
otherwise (for example the T206 Plank card).
Having print shop experience during my H.S. years, I thought the "broken plate" theory was utterly ridiculous. Printers design multiple plates for
most everything they print.
On a beautiful Fall day in 1984, I received a call from Bob Bartosz (BB Show promoter in South Jersey) telling me I have to see the stuff that an
elderly gentleman just brought into his BB shop. So I took a long lunch break and drove an hour down to Cherry Hill. Bob spread out on his glass
counters EIGHT (20" x 15") tin printing plates. The 32 images etched on each of these plates were that of the 1954 BOWMAN BB cards.
A complete 1954 BOWMAN BB set comprises of 224 subjects. So, I say to Bob...."there's a duplicate plate". Bob replies...."yes, look who is on it."
The extra printing plate's images were for cards #65 - #96. This was unbelievable, TWO printing plates with Ted Williams (#66) !
Well, so much for the "broken plate" myth.
In 1984, BOWMAN cards were my biggest sellers. So, Bob asked me what would be a fair $$$$ figure to offer the gentleman for these plates ?
I told Bob that I really had no idea, this kind of stuff was just too unique. I told him I would contact Barry Halper. When I got back to work that
day, I called Barry. Barry was really interested in the printing plates, and thanked me for contacting him. It was a happy ending for Barry, Bob,
and the elderly gentleman.
TED Z
T206 Reference
.