[slipk1068]

I am planning on sorting through boxes this holiday weekend in an effort to clear up some closet space and narrow the focus of my collection. One of the first boxes I looked at had these 2 cards. Hopefully, the rest of the boxes have more surprises like these!

These were not pulled from packs. They were purchased at a card show or a card store in the early/mid 1980's. I am trying to learn what current hobby opinion is on these cards, and what they might be worth. My research landed me here. I haven't read the entire thread yet, but I thought I would give my opinion of what these are and see if anyone agrees or disagrees. I am not even close to being an expert, but I was a printer for almost 10 years in my youth. I could be wrong, but this is my opinion on how these cards became "Blackless."

Printing ink is very thick and does not flow very well. As the ink in the ink tray is used, the remaining ink has to be forced forward in the ink tray so it contacts the first roller. From the first roller, it gets transferred to a series of rollers called an ink tower, As the ink is used, it needs to be moved up against the first roller every few minutes by the printing press operator. if it loses contact with that first roller, the image being printed will slowly fade as the ink tower rollers run out of ink until there is no ink left in the ink tower. Then you get a completely "Blackless" card.

The ink in the ink tray is not in contact with the first roller on these 2 cards. in The Don Cooper card on the left It has a very faded facsimile autograph, so it is being printed by the residulal ink remaining on the ink tower rollers. The image will get lighter with each image printed until the ink in the ink tower rollers is completely dried up like the Don Cooper card on the right. The impressions will be total Blackless until the operator moves the ink forward in the ink tray.