Lots of interesting stuff here as usual.
I'm still learning things about printing in the 1910 era, as well as what practices might have been followed at ALC.
So here's a bunch of info and opinions some old, some new.
The Goodwin sheet really can't be applied to T206. It's not printed, but is a photographic sheet of OJs applied to a backing similar to a cabinet photo. So it actually doesn't have a border, and isn't printed.
T206 fronts are more than 6 colors. More like 8 for many of them.
The work Chris has done breaking down the smaller groups within the overall series is excellent. I'm not really in the "34" camp, but have worked with his breakdown of the 460s, comparing it to available pop reports (which are admittedly flawed, but the best hard data we have right now) and his groups held up very well. Maybe one or two subjects that could be moved between groups, but not provably.
150 and 350 are far more complex.
I've now seen a picture of a 1910 era press in operation, and producing a sheet that's about half as wide as the press track!
The 19" width comes from -If I remember it correctly- a floorplan in an article on ALC running their plant electrically. That floorplan specified Hoe #5 presses which were that size.
ALC being huge would have had a wide variety of presses available.
And they would probably have used different presses based on the size of the individual order. Based on the sheets/hour the presses could manage Piedmont was probably in nearly constant production. Hindu probably wasn't.
Since F649 packed for "other than Philadelphia" and presumably "Philadelphia" there would probably have been different sheets for the different distribution.
That's backed up somewhat by the Powers card, which is the only subject that has both no 350 series AND a F649 op.
It's entirely likely that piedmont was produced on a larger sheet than Hindu.
It's also likely that production was simultaneous. Piedmont being produced on one press while Sovereign was printed on another.
I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the fronts are specific to a brand. So there will be tiny differences between say a Piedmont 150 Ewing and an SC150 Ewing. This may or may not transfer to the 350's and tougher backs, but I believe it will.
The 150 series was produced in multiple stages. There are a few cards with at least three obvious design changes within their 150 production. (Tinker being the most obvious)
The subjects that were carried over from 150 to 350 were reworked. Conroy with the striped/non-striped cap, Ritchey, probably others. it's unclear yet if there were many transitional cards produced -Meaning 150 fronts but with a 350 back, or less likely a 350 variety with a 150 back.
That Wagner would be shown in an ad for a brand his card wasn't included in is not unusual. The leadtimes for publication were long enough that the ad was probably sent to newspapers before the card was pulled from production. Whether the reason for the pull was over payment or Honus not wanting to be on a tobacco card wouldn't have mattered. And ATC either slipped the ads through or was allowed to let them run since the cost of recalling them would have been high.
While decent margins are good practice even today, I've seen some evidence that ALC ran tight margins on at least one side of a sheet. That doesn't match with the factory numbers in the margins of SC150 sheets, but could still be what was done.
Getting farther afield,
ALC was pretty tight with the Hoe press company.
And Hoe produced some very advanced stuff.
Two color presses. - Picture two presses back to back so they print two colors in one pass.
And web fed presses, which print from a roll of paper rather than sheets.
If T206s were produced on a web press that would change everything.
There's some indication that two color presses may have been used for the T206s for at least some of the production.
Supposedly Cutteich was the first company to produce color postcards on an offset press in 1910. I think the article actually refers to the more modern CMYK four color process, rather than offset itself, but it also gives some insight to the overall process at Curtteich.
http://teicharchives.blogspot.com/20...ny-part-2.html
The press shown is a Miehle, but would be very similar to a Hoe press.
Postcards in production shown here, the rest of the site is a very good overview of different processes.
http://www.metropostcard.com/techniques3.html
An 1879 Hoe press is shown here. Probably not much different from those used in 1910.
http://www.howardironworks.org/colle...ress-1879.html
Steve B