Just wondering about printing techniques giving further insight to T206 page layout.
 

I was just reading Ted Z's thread about t213's and it got me to thinking a bit. I know absolutely nothing about printing or printing techniques and don't know if this has been discussed previously or not but it may be another piece of the T206 page layout mystery. When colors are laid down on sheets I would assume they are laid down from either left to right or right to left. As such we would and do see cards that have some vertical blending of colors as other colors are either laid on top of existing colors or are faded out as one color blends into another.

I have seen, as I am guessing many of you have, that several T206's are prone to this shading on many individual portraits of the same player, ie. Kling and Tinker (portrait) and in most cases it is most noticeable with the red spectrum. Wouldn't this give us some indication that these players may have fallen in the same column on a specific sheet and also indicate that they were most likely placed nearer the center of the sheets or at a minimum not in the end columns on the sheet? Now I don't have the info in front of me but this assumes that these cards are issued in the same series but I would think we could find many that are. If my basic assumptions about how colors are laid down are correct, and I might be totally incorrect, it was just a thought, maybe this helps give us another small piece to the layout puzzle.

Would love to hear other thoughts on this and forgive me if its been discussed previously.

The colors are put down in layers. Typically lightest to darkest, but the brown/yellow scraps seem to show this wasn't how it was done all the time.

The press is designed to print a very consistent layer across the entire sheet. So the color fades you see are almost always deliberate. They can vary depending on how heavily the ink is applied, and a few other things but should be generally consistent.

Seen up close - Like with a 1200 dpi scan. You can see the actual layers and which ones change from solid to spots during a fade or some other color difference.
T206s were done with at least 6 colors, and usually 8 or more.
Modern printing is typically done with only four colors to make every color needed. (Some exceptions would be some of the solid areas on Topps cards into the mid 80's)

Typically a margin is left on all four sides of a sheet since there is a tendency to problems at the very edge. I've seen a couple cards that might show the company not leaving much margin to at least one side, but nothing certain.

Steve B

Thanks Steve. Some of the Klings and Tinkers to name a few have that line very distinctly right down the middle of the card. Wouldnt that mean they would have to be in the same column. The Tinker might not be the best eample as the red in the background is deeper than the Kling but I know there are others of a similar/exact shade red to the Kling red where you can see a distinct color differentiation right dwon the middle of the card. Maybe someone else can find the players I am thinking about.

can you provide examples? There are color(s) under the red that give many of the portraits a "gradient" appearance. I think this is what you are referring to?

Yes Erick exactly. Have to look through my t206's to find other examples but not going to have a chance to do that until the weekend. It happens with some or the oranges too.

The gradient appearance would have no correlation to sheet placement in my opinion. The gradient is attributed not to the amount of red, but rather the colors under the red layer.

This Criger is an example of what I'm talking about:


http://cgi1.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ourcePage=4340


The red fade from left to right almost makes it look like the darker red was stopped halfway across the card. I've seen Kling's with it too. Could it imply they were in the same column when printed?

I was wondering if we knew what sort of printing press was used and if that could help illuminate any info about sheet size etc.

I think it's by design. If you type in "t206 beaumont" on ebay, they all look like that. My copy does as well.

mcginnity
 

i sold this mcginnity via H&S a long time ago (wish I had not)... obviously missing red. Note that the "orange" is pink/buff and yellow... the green at the bottom is for a gradient look when the red is applied. Compare to when the red was applied:

http://www.net54baseball.com/attachm...1&d=1393477227

http://www.collectorfocus.com/images...nnity-iron-man

I've seen the Beaumont also and agree it could be by design. Since there are a few cards like this would it make sense that they are lined up in the same column?

Don't think so... see my previous post with the McGinnity.

Just bought this one. Seems like another Herman was next in line.

.

Rob.ert
I agree with what Er!ck said about the McGinnity. A different color partially used under the final background color would give more depth to the card's image.

I will post below another card much like the McGinnity. The red background color is slightly shifted to show the gray layer underneath. Notice above Hofman's name.

Er!ck

Don't worry over the McGinnity. Its in a safe place. ;)


Jantz

Of course, to make it less clear, most vertical miscuts show that each player was usually in a column either by themselves or occasionally with another player.

But that's just how they set it up, not because of the inking.

Steve B