1962 Bazooka tin printing plate
 

Posted By: <b>fkw</b><p>I just picked this up.<br /><br /><img src=http://centuryoldcards.com/images/1962bazookaprintplate.jpg><br />Battey/Spahn/Thomas<br /><br />I was wondering if these are fairly common? <br />Was it something that came from some sort of Topps Archive sale in the past?<br />Or is is fairly unique to find something like this? Does anyone else have one?<br /><br />PS. the back has very old masking tape with the words "Light Blue" written on it.

1962 Bazooka tin printing plate
 

Posted By: <b>davidcycleback</b><p>I had some very similar aluminum items for 1962 Topps football cards and they came from the 1989 Topps Archive Auction. They were referred to as proofs. I suspect they're scarce as I rarely see them.<br /><br />If yours says light blue on back, it seem yours is a printing plate. It should be rare, as you rarely see any printing plates for 1950s-80s baseball cards. I don't recall seeing a Bazooka printing plate before.<br /><br />In practice, lithograph printers often or even usually 'whiped' the plates clean when they were done so they could use the metal for a new printing project. This explains you rarely see old lithograph printing plates, even for newer stuff like 1989 Upper Deck or 1987 Fleer. They wanted the metal for new projects.