e90-3 Hofman variation

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

For those of you that saw this card on eBay, I won it and towards then end of the auction was having doubts about the card actually being a print error after talking to several collectors who I greatly respect.

The card arrived today and I have spent most of the day examining the card. The biggest concern expressed was that the 'error' might be an illusion of dirt and wear considering the condition of the card. I can say without a doubt that the 'error' is not a result of this. The best I can figure is that part of the 'm' got blocked. How the tail end of the 'm' became an 'l' I am not sure of, but it is consistant with the 'l' on the e90-3 Overall I have.

The best scan I could do was 800dpi. I need more RAM (already have 512M) to do a better one.




Jay

[Archive]

Posted By: petecld

Jay,

With all due respect I think you may be seeing what you want to see. I desperately want the image used for Cy Young cards on the E98 and E97 sets to be Cy Young but I have to admit it isn't.

There is definitely a little part of the second hump of the "m" missing and it looks like some surface damage in that very spot. I don't think that is a lower case "L". The bottom half is the final down stroke of the "m" with either a speck of dirt above it, an errant ink spot, or maybe even a carefully "placed" errant ink spot.

Below, is a comparison using your scan and the two lower case "LL" from my Overall card. Notice the edges of the "L's are quite distinct. The "L" on the Hofman card is fuzzy. That wouldn't be caused by dirt on the plate.




E90-3 are notorious for poor print jobs. I don't think this is a legitimate variation. I would also think that if many others considered it a legitimate variation it wouldn't have sold so cheap.

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

I know the extension is not dirt or anything else. I have done all the basic cleaning things I know to remove dirt etc and looked at it under a magnifying glass. There is no depression in paper or other indication that anything was added after the intial printing. If the double 'L' you show is from an e90-3 Overall then they are different from they way mine look. On mine, the top of the first 'L' is almost perfectly dtraight with no flare at all. The second 'L' is similar to your first 'L'.

And yes, I may be seeing what I want to see, that's the reason for my post, I want some opinions without a vested interest in the card. A friend of mine that knows the set very well is going to take a look at it and see what he thinks. And I trust his opinion above anyone else's in the hobby.

Jay