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Posted By: Hankron

Realize that the N162 & Allen & Ginters were actually handmade. Using special lithography pens and other tools, the artist drew directly onto the printing plates, or onto special paper that directly transfered the art to the printing plate. The printing plates essenitally printed these exact 'drawings' directly onto the cards. This is why under even high magnification they look much like paitings, and there is not halftone dot pattern or pixels.

In modern times, whether it's the player image on a 1971 Topps card or a reprint of a N162, they reprint the original art (whether it's the N162 or a Topps photograph). Using a complicated reproduction process and literally an image of the original art through a screen to separate the image into tiny dots, they make the image into saturated pattern of tiny dots. The end result is basically the same as the pixels in a computer image.

So the sporadic stipple dots of an original N162 were by the artists design and hand, while the throughout halftone dots of a reprint were from the way it was printed.

Lastly, the stipple dots are usually easily visible to the naked eye, while modern halftone dots usually are not, often requiring a strong magnifying glass.