1952 Topps Upton Back ink misprint?
 

I am sure you guys know more about this than I do but does the back of this 1952 Topps Upton look like it might have been a misprint when made? There is quite a bit of a black ink? mark outside the right border of the black box at top. The ink looks pretty close to the same .. Maybe it is an after the process marking though?

http://luckeycards.com/1952toppsupton.jpg
http://luckeycards.com/1952toppsuptonb.jpg
http://luckeycards.com/1952toppsuptonb2.jpg

Do you have the card in hand and a CFL light in your house? If so hold the card at a angle like when looking for surface problems. The CFL light will make most black that is not original to the card look grey or a different shade of black than the factory ink.

I have a black light (for my Elvis poster on my wall) and the card doesn't fluoresce...

Halogen lights also work very good with black ink. Black lights are more for detecting modern color inks that some hack put on a card.

EDIT: A lot of times you can take a 1200dpi or better scan of the area in question. I then put that image on my TV. You can turn centimeters on a card to feet on the big TVs everyone has now.

Looks like ink added later to me.

Cheers,
Patrick

The shape of it looks like something that could have happened on the press. Sometimes they have to use a bit of solvent on the rollers that spread out the ink so it goes onto the plate evenly. Under the right conditions it can dry out and make the print get a bit spotty. So the rollers get wiped with solvent. It's a bit unsafe to do while the press is running, but it's done.

If the solvent drips onto the offset blanket you get a mark like that. Ink spread out where the drop is, and a spread area after that.

Similar marks come from water dripping on the plate. The water is in a tray that gets filled and drops n the plate can lead to an area where the ink has "floated" off the plate, but hasn't been entirely rejected.

Interesting mistake, I have a few on more modern cards.

Steve B

don't know 'bout the cards you're speaking of, but...MY vintage/tangibly "fuzzy" posters of Iron Butterfly
and Steppenwolf are on MY walls...so I hear ya!

DS

I remember this small, out of the way place we used to go when I was a little kid, in the late 1960s. It was a black light poster store. They had posters of matadors, ships, cities, sports stars and just about every blacklight poster subject you could imagine and then some. I think they went out with waterbeds!! (I hope no one tells me they still have one, I never did personally)

As for the card, it absolutely could be a mark drawn on there. I will continue checking it...

Looks drawn on to me, but pretty tough to be a 100% without the card in hand.

Not a pencil mark, imo, but rather a black pencil.

Have you tried one of your erasers on it? :)

Yes, I just tried the eraser and it didn't erase it. The more I look at it the more I think it's ink from the mfg process. It has the same sheen and look, when held closely to look at, as the other black area. Still not positive though. There is a Beckett Raw Card Review this coming weekend, at the Dallas Card Show show, and one of the best graders in the hobby is doing it so I will check and see what they say this coming weekend.

Mark
 

Let us know Leon. If it is part of the manufacturing process the next question is whether it is recurring and if so how scarce. Recurring back defects are hard to run down since there are so few back scans on eBay. COMC and Deans cards are where I try to run down back variants.

Will do.....again, same exact sheen to the mark as the other black box next to it so we shall see. If it were only a T206 I might be able to retire on it!

I'm pretty sure someone spilled blank ink on the card (maybe with water too). Look at the missing "n" in brown. Unless my eyes are deceiving me - you can even spot the edges of the entire blob of ink on the card.

Pretty sure you won't get to retire on this card Leon!

Cheers,
Patrick

If they can add a 61 Ron Fairly with an errant green smudge in the baseball on the back to the Registry, they can add anything they want :). If they did he might get a weekend in Galveston.

I think you and SMPEP are right.

Will be interesting to hear what the Beckett grader says about it?

Did anyone read post 6? Anyone?

Steve B

Just now. :D

Likely right, BTW, but we'll see what the grader has to say as I personally don't know, I am only guessing.

It has been checked by a senior grader at Beckett and he says there is no doubt whatsoever it is from the mfg process and contemporary to the card being made. He said he didn't remember that error occurring on others but of course he wasn't sure of it. He just didn't remember seeing any like it. I knew it looked like the exact same ink because it is. :)

And Steve B in post 6, you might be right!!

If it was 2 yrs ago and a T206 you would have a great find worth a ton of cash.;) Cool find anyway.:)

It will soar from a $4 card all the way to a $5 card!! And I agree it's kind of cool ....

I would pay $10 delivered.:) Because it is cool.

ok so with around 4 bucks shipping my card went from 4 dollars to 6 dollars net :).... I think I will hold it and put it in my card mistake collection....like these...

http://luckeycards.com/ps74x2miscuts.jpg