Quote:
Originally Posted by benjulmag
Let me flip it on you. What is the evidence the card(s) are real? Yes, they pass the visual test, and that does mean something. But, to me, for items of sufficient value to create incentive for counterfeiting, not enough. So that leads to the next inquiry -- credible provenance -- which in this instance IMO is lacking. Let's take off the table the allegation of T206 reprints made in the 1950's from the original printing plates, an allegation I was not even aware of when I was first offered the card by Sevchuk. I felt then, as I continue to feel now, that a NrMt-Mt T206 Wagner popping up out of nowhere with no documented provenance -- and, yes, allegedly first turning up in a flea market far from the point of original manufacture is something I would characterize as popping up out of nowhere with no documented provenance -- creates legitimate concerns about authenticity. I recognize it is not easy to make replica T206s that pass visual inspection, and for that reason I feel it is entirely possible the card is real. But in this instance, to satisfy my comfort level, I would require forensic examination.
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I wouldn't give much if any credence to cards being reprinted from original plates decades after the original production.
The evidence we have for sure is that many if not all* T206s were printed on flatbed offset lithography presses, and the "plates" for those were large sheets of limestone, sometimes 3-4 inches thick.
Once the job was done or the plate was too badly worn, they were typically resurfaced and new images laid down. The only exceptions would be the smaller master stones used to produce the transfers.
The only ones that survived of sports cards that I know of would be one or two hockey cards. And those are backs, not complete sets of 6-8 colors for the fronts.
*There's some very slight evidence that a two color rotary press using sort of modern plates may have been used. But if it was I don't think that early press survived the progress that happened. The technology wasn't much different, even into the 1980's, but the earliest examples of a technology usually have problems that get worked out and they get replaced pretty quickly.
Plates made for a semi-experimental press around 1910 almost certainly wouldn't work in a press from the 20's or 30's.