T206 scratched print plate

[Archive]

Posted By: DaveW

I just noticed the long streak on this T206 back of Donohue. I'm almost certain this came from the original printing as it is the exact color of blue, and where it crosses small details of the proper back, there is bleeding of the ink.

Is this common?

[Archive]

Posted By: davidcyclebacl

I agree that it appears to be a flaw from the printing plate, or otherwise from the original printing. As I've never seen instances of ink dribbling from other sheets or whatever onto other cards, the best guess is that the line was on the printing plate.

[Archive]

Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I have two Donohue cards with Piedmont 150 backs and neither have this "ink streak".
This is simply the result of sloppy printing.

TED Z

[Archive]

Posted By: Russ Bright

a strand of hair, or a spiderweb? Something like that on the plate would cause a mark like this.

[Archive]

Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Fighter pilots... "check six".

Always look behind you, check you back.


Let's look at our Piedmont 150 fac 25 backs, guys. If it is a crack, we'll see a few more. If it is a stray hair or errant printing, we won't find others with the identical line.

[Archive]

Posted By: DaveW

I like the hair theory, it would explain why it doesn't show up more. I checked, and the ink streak goes from just above the scroll at the top to the bottom of the card, a little over 2.5 inches, for what that's worth.

I'll take a look at my other Piedmont 150's, but I don't remember seeing this before.


Edited to add:

I've checked all my cards, which has 108 Piedmont 150's. The card I posted is the only one with the streak.

[Archive]

Posted By: MVSNYC

the "scratch" theory would not hold water, IF there was a scratch in the printing plate, it wouldn't print a line, it would be recessed, thus not getting any ink on it, therefore would NOT print...only the raised areas ("piedmont 150"...etc) would get ink and print...

just sloppy printing, too much ink, ink drip

[Archive]

Posted By: Dave F

I just checked...none of my 150 subjects Factory 25's have the same thing on them.

[Archive]

Posted By: Martin Neal

Hi DaveW,

I just checked mine and found a few with the same type of printers mark on them. I don't think they are common, but I would not call them rare. One thing I did notice was that it only occurred on the Piedmont 150 series and not on any of the 350 series. This was from a sample of approximately 250 cards of all 3 seies of Piedmont backs. Perhaps, there was a change in the printing methodology between the two series? It would be interesting to hear from other collectors.