Print Process - Diamond Stars

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Posted By: RayB

I've noticed, upon inspecting hundreds of 34-36' Diamond Stars, an unusual quirk in the print process.
In general, out of focus or out of registration, is a printing flaw that is typical and sometimes a serious flaw in certain pre-war card issues. An otherwise gorgeous card can be marred by a subtle jog of the print plate that creates the maladjustment to a card image.

On 34-36' Diamond Stars I have noticed this to be somewhat of a problem. The problem, however, often displays a particular oddity. On some cards you can actually notice that the image of the just the player is in perfect focus, but the backround is laid down askew. Occasionally you may even find a card where the backround image seems to be flawless but the player image is a tad blurry.

It is obvious to me that this is a multi-step print process. Can anyone shed a more specific detail on the way that this particular issue was printed? Speculations?

Any Diamond Star diehards amongst us? I would love to hear from you.
RayB

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Posted By: steve f

I only have one, Foxx. But I do like the 30's funny papers style drawings and unusual art deco backgrounds. This set suffers that Nat'l Chicle didn't sign Ruth and Gehrig and because of this it's in the backseat to Goudey. Similar to the cartoonish T205 to big brother T206.

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Posted By: jims

I know little about diamond stars. but a little more about printing. My dad was a pressman in the thirties and I remember him talking about some of the problems in printing four color work. Quality control was a little practiced commodity in many commercial shops. The registration problems you find in the diamond stars could be caused by any one of a number of variables. Most if not all printing then was done on letterpresses vs today's offset presses.
A lot of four color work was printed on one color presses, meaning that there was a drying time between each press pass.Some paper would actually stretch as it went through a press. Humidity in a non air conditioned shop could swell the paper. In short, many times by the last press pass, it would be impossible to register the last color to the first three. There are a variety of other things that could also have caused the registration problems. An imperfect science at the time.

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Posted By: drc

All color baseball cards, even today's, are printed with one printing plate per color. Early 1900s examples commonly have registration problems (colors not aligned correctly), but even some 1970s and 80s Topps will have noticeable registration problems.

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Posted By: John Harrell

If you can believe Alan Hager, he states in his 1993 price guide that the Diamond Stars set was printed using the silk screening process. Comparing this set to the 33 and 34 Goudeys, to Delongs, Tattoo Orbits, and George C. Miller's, I can see some subtle differences in color tone. To me the artwork on the Diamond Stars seems, on some of the cards, brighter and almost 3-dimensional compared to the other 30's sets.

John

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Posted By: drc

I don't have one in front of me, but I assume the Diamond Stars are lithographs. They have a different look than most baseball cards, but that's due to the graphics design.

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Posted By: RayB

Just so others uninitiated with the issue get can a good look.
RayB