Leaf Al Hostak - Red

[G1911]

This was on eBay and sold for $130. I was the underbidder on a whim. Leaf misprints and problem cards are everywhere and this has to be one of the crappiest quality sets of all time, but even by Leaf standards I thought this one was interesting. Usually problems are color passes, missing elements, cutting and centering, etc. I cannot recall seeing a Hostak with a red background before instead of the blank white. The offset red over his body seems to be just an offset, not the red ink from another card layered over him.

Anyone seen another Hostak like this?

[steve B]

Also missing the outline in black for the border.

[Exhibitman]

Just when you thought their QC had bottomed out, you find another mess.

[G1911]

Leaf not only didn't have a QC department, they didn't even seem to try to print them right.

This one is so weird to me because it doesn't look like a QC problem to me. The red is offset a bit, but it seems to have been designed to fit around Hostak's picture. It's not the red background and layer of another card laid over a Hostak card. A proper Hostak doesn't have a printed background of any color; the white backdrop isn't printed it's just blank stock. So it also isn't the wrong ink color in the printer, because there wouldn't be anything there and it wouldn't be designed to fit around Hostak.

I don't think I've seen any other Leaf like this.

[Exhibitman]

Me neither. I wonder if it came off an early sheet that was not meant to go out?

Here's an interesting thought: maybe Hostak was the replacement for Graziano and the design was preliminary with red?

[G1911]

The Graziano's I am aware of are also white stocks, so it's definitely possible it was a change made at the same time for some reason. That it must be an intentional creation would indicate Hostak had some change made during white production or late stage testing (if there was any for Leaf). They must have pulled the Graziano almost right away and I cannot find a second Hostak like this.

How many Graziano's are we up to confirmed? I have images of only 5.

PSA shows 2 A's and a 5 I don't have pics of. SGC has 2 A's I don't have a pick of. I suspect there are some resubs and duplication here. Presumably some collector(s) somewhere has/have a raw one.

Like the similar SP'd T220 Silver Corbett, the Graziano rarity seems to mostly exist in pretty strong mid grade.