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Joe_G.You could be right Kevin, the number might be present on both copies. I may have jumped the gun a bit having discussed Brown's Champs variations with Jay Miller in the past in which he shared that they can be found with and without numbers.
However, it is still apparent that Colt's two examples were prepared differently with two different individuals likely writing the script name. Perhaps what makes the number so difficult to see in the second example is the fact that it is nearly hidden in the shadow of the matte that lays on top of the image (mattes were used in 1887 to frame the images and give a uniform border within the 24 image matrix that comprised an original uncut sheet). On the second example, the matte comes much closer to the image & "Old Judge Cigarettes" banner and in doing so is nearly covering up half the number. This type of position variation (border vs image) are common.
In the spirit of talking about Brown's Champs variations, here is one with a copyright line (another uncommon variation). This one comes from Jim Clarke's online library with other examples present in Lew Lipsets 19th Century Encyclopedia (the uncut sheet).
Would love to see or hear more about Jay's missing number cards. Primarily, would like to know if there is a trend on font style with missing numbers (even though the two examples here appear to both have numbers) and so on. We know the long numbered cards (leading zero) have many examples of missing numbers. Gotta love the variations 
Joe Gonsowski