Recent "Red TOLSTOI" ghost image explained

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

FYI.....all you serious T206 collectors.......

Recently a "ghost" image was apparent on a T206 Mullin (batting) that was on ebay.
A TOLSTOI back image was faintly printed on the front of this card (check-out link)
and what was really puzzling about this image was that it was RED-ish, rather than
the normal BLACK ink that TOLSTOI backs are printed with.

This AM I was printing out color copies on my EPSON printer/scanner/copier and in
the process it ran out of Black ink. The result was that all the Black print and images
on the originals came out printed in a light RED (or PINK-ish) on the copies. Therefore,
the inking phases in the normal printing process must have a 1st order light Red phase.
Followed by a Black (or Brown) phase, and finally the RED ink application. Hence, I offer
this explanation as the reason for the "red" TOLSTOI ghost image.

Incidently, they didn't print T206's, using EPSON devices....Ha..Ha ! However, multi-inking
color printing has essentially been the same process for more than 100 years.

T-Rex TED

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150027347763>

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Posted By: walkscott

Ted, I don't think that is what happened. The ads on the back were printed with single color ink; otherwise, you would see some offset ad-backs with multiple color images of the add on the same card...at least some scrap.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Current color laser or ink jet printing mixes colors, which is why you don't have to run the sheet through the printer repeatedly. Old style printing applies layers of single colors. The red ink was the last applied on old cards because it was the hardest to cover over (if you mask red with anything else it turns brown to black), except with black or metal (T205 borders). I have a badly misprinted T205 and you can see the print sequence from it. A more likely explanation for the red Tolstoi ghosts is either (1) they used the wrong ink for the back and meant to scrap the sheet but that back sheet bled onto the front of another sheet as they stacked in and they either intentionally or accidentally ran through anyway, or (2) there was another form of card with a red Tolstoi back that they meant to print and it bled onto the sheet in a stack.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...the red was the last to go on, it would also have been the wettest when dropped face down on top of another sheet, i.e., the wet sheet transfer would favor red, with the other colors diminshed thereafter as a result of drying. No?

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Posted By: warshawlaw

The sheets would stack up each time they are fed through. Whether a wet transfer occurs would depend on how wet the ink was, how hot it was, how moist the air was, etc.

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Posted By: T206Collector

... the red is put on last and then the sheet is dropped on top of another sheet, leaving a red imprint of the Tolstoi reverse. Isn't that what happened?

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Posted By: warshawlaw

If there is a red Tolstoi back, that's what could have happened. If the back is only 1 color, then there would not be a first-last ink issue; it would simply be a wet sheet transfer. My comments pertained to when red goes onto a card when there are multiple colors used.