Brian,
Is there any chance that the layout of a player repeating vertically on a sheet came in later production runs? If the entire sheet was one big plate, I can't imagine it would change. But if each player was an individual plate, and then the individual plates were assembled to make the sheet - kind of like a printing press - then I could see one or two rearrangements, especially after a few early runs.
Ted's explanation seems like the only one possible for jlynch's question. I agree with Ted that it seems highly unlikely that there were originally more than one Piedmont Wagner or Plank and that the dups were somehow hoarded or destroyed. Much more likely that only one of each ever existed on the found sheet.
And if there was a sheet, and there was only one Wagner and one Plank on that sheet, then they were not repeated vertically despite the top/bottom name patterns of known miscuts.
There are only two possibilities: multiple Wagners and Planks on the sheet in question, or not. I'm thinking not, but I don't know.
And I still think it is a really great question, because having no multiples flies in the face of conventional wisdom on the vertical repeats. Having multiples creates a mystery that is awesome to consider.
J
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