Andrew- it's a tough call. The only cards that could possibly have those marks are ones printed around the periphery of a sheet. If every Nee card appeared along the edge in the same position, they would all have that mark. Would that then be considered a variation? Probably not.
However, you've determined that some examples of Nee do not have the mark. Is it possible it was double printed on the sheet, with the second example occupying an interior position? Therefore, it would not have that mark and we would in fact have two variations- with and without the marks. Does that make it a true variation? Well, there are differences between the two but neither one can be considered a corrected error. So now we need a strict definition of what constitutes a variation. And we don't have one at this time- that's an area of the hobby that is still a little vague.
My opinion is if the only difference between the two cards is the tiny printing mark, then it is not a true variation. There are so many of these cards known with printing marks- do collectors now need to go after all of them to complete a master set? I don't think so.
|