The T207 Printing Process

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Posted By: Hankron

The T207s, which definetely have a painting/artistic quality, may have been based on actual paintings. As was discussed in an earlier thread, many of the T206s images were reproductions of embellished/colored photographs while some may have been based on color sketches (perhaps, the artist using a photograph as an basis for the sketch). Anyone looking at a the E106 Ty Cobb knows that the original art was no photograph.

In this type of lithography, the technology used was the same, but the original art (whether painting, sketch or real photograph) could differ-- thus the difference in appearance between a T206 Head Shot and a E106 Ty Cobb It's kind of like the 1950s Topps. The printing technology was the same, but the original art differed. The images on the 1953 Topps cards were reproductions on actual paintings that Topps commisioned (many which still exist), while the 1957 Topps were reproductions of photographs (many of the original negatives still exist). And the 1958 Topps, with it's photographic image of a player surrounded by solid color, is a reproduction of a painted phtograph.

It's kind of like using your scanner. If you scan a photograph, you will get digital image that looks like a photograph. If you scan a painting, you will get a digital image that looks like a painting. The technology is the same (in fact you used the exact same scanner), but you were reproducting two different items.

So, it's very much possible that the T207s were based on original paintings that the tobacco company commisioned.