Printing experts and oddity lovers check out this 1933 Goudey

[brianp-beme]

I have this 1933 Goudey of Luque that has the print of the back of a Billy Urbanski card visible on the front. If it were a wet sheet transfer, the lettering would instead be mirror image.

After checking into it further, both Luque and Urbanski were printed on the same sheet (sheet #8), Luque second from left on the bottom row of the sheet, and Urbanski second from right on the bottom row as well. So my mind has figured out that the printers accidentally printed the reverse backs on top of the fronts on this sheet during production.

Does this sound correct, and has anyone else seen any other 1933 Goudey cards with this similar printing mishap?

Brian

[NiceDocter]

Haven’t ever seen this before . I do agree it’s not a wet transfer with the mirror image but I think more likely it was a sheet or sheets that went through the back printing process and they ran out of ink , then reused what they thought were blank sheets to print other cards. Im sure they had minimal quality control reviews back in those days! Cool card!

[NiceDocter]

My theory above would include them maybe printing the backs BEFORE the fronts which is possible but I have no evidence that this was ever a routine

[steve B]

It's probably a cylinder transfer.

The plate puts the ink on a rubber roller, the paper goes between the rubber roller and a steel roller.
If the sheet doesn't feed, the ink is printed to the steel roller instead of the paper, and the next sheet of paper gets printed by both the rubber roller and the steel roller.

They're usually more detailed than a wst (Offset transfer) But depending on the ink, the steel roller, and how much pressure is applied it can be a bit less than perfect.

[brianp-beme]

Interesting theories. Definitely seems like Steve may have the potential answer, and sounds like a fairly in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of printing machinery. Thanks for sharing.

I am trying to remember if I have seen cards from this or other sets that had this type of happy mishap. I don't recall any. Anyone out there have some to share?

Brian

[NiceDocter]

Im not saying Steve is wrong but wouldnt his theory mean that 2 consecutive prints were from the back and the next the front? Doesnt seem very likely...his theory would result in double printed fronts or double printed backs of the same card, not a faded back on a front.... or am I wrong? Fun to try and analyze what the heck happened 90 years ago!

[Exhibitman]

I have other cards with this. I think they accidentally released a sheet used for clearing the press. There may have been something wrong with the sheet so it was scrapped and used after ink ran down to clear the press before restarting. My cards with a cylinder transfer are much sharper. No matter how you slice it that is a great card.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

Im not saying Steve is wrong but wouldnt his theory mean that 2 consecutive prints were from the back and the next the front? Doesnt seem very likely...his theory would result in double printed fronts or double printed backs of the same card, not a faded back on a front.... or am I wrong? Fun to try and analyze what the heck happened 90 years ago!

The fronts were probably printed first. *

four passes, one for each color. Drying time in between. Then the backs printed.

Adam has an excellent point that cylinder transfers are usually very sharp. That it's from a sheet used for press adjustment /cleaning** is also a good possibility.

*Based on how many blankbacks there are vs blank fronts, which I've only seen on modern cards.

** The place I worked never cleaned by running anything through. Didn't even have paper on the press. Did other places do it differently? Maybe, but I don't really see a reason to do that.

[Exhibitman]

Here's a fun one

[emmygirl]

I worked in the printing industry for 20+ years and I'm no genius on this matter but these irregularities are most certainly from using Make Ready Sheets to get the press ready for the next run. To " get-up to color, to get registration or to clean a problem" these sheets were always available to help the pressman to get going quickly without "Wasting lots of expensive paper. No doubt some of these sheets got sandwiched into the good sheets and out they went with the product. Same thing happens occasionally with the printing of paper money.

[nebboy]

Originally Posted by emmygirl

I worked in the printing industry for 20+ years and I'm no genius on this matter but these irregularities are most certainly from using Make Ready Sheets to get the press ready for the next run. To " get-up to color, to get registration or to clean a problem" these sheets were always available to help the pressman to get going quickly without "Wasting lots of expensive paper. No doubt some of these sheets got sandwiched into the good sheets and out they went with the product. Same thing happens occasionally with the printing of paper money.

+1

Waste sheet for sure - you can tell the they were dilling problem with light blue - the shadow folds on the shirt does not show proper detailing which is easy to see compared to a nice example.

My best guess is a smash blank so bad sheets were pulled and used as waste - - - 2nd guess is still to much water in cyan ink mix on a start up and used waste until they got up to color.