Yet another T207 Anonymous twist/observation.

[frohme]

As seems to be the case of late, there's yet another discovery in the T207 space, and another twist in the T207 (Anonymous) story ... this one helps confirm one of the ideas that's been floated before, though not widely. In short, I noted some time ago (can't find the post now) that the 50 T207 Recruit class cards that could be found with an Anonymous back had - as a general rule - artwork, coloring, and details more similar to all the Broadleaf-class cards than to other Recruit cards (richer colors, insignias & jersey lettering, etc...). No real explanation has been floated, though not much thought has gone in - it was always shrugged off as yet another 'thing that needs explaining' in T207 ... until now, sort of.

Yesterday (3/30) on eBay (thanks for the info Bryan) this Spratt was sold:

Disclaimer - this is not my card - perhaps one of you won it?
 


This is the first time I've seen a mix of Recruit and Broadleaf-class poses on the same card ... I haven't given it too much thought yet (found it last night), but it implies to me that they were being printed at the same time/facility at least, if not on the same sheet. I suspect that this would only be possible with the 50 Anon 3 Recruits. Otherwise, there would have had to have been a (more) major snafu somewhere in the process.

I'll see if I can find the oher published info (to the theory) and link it here ... now we just need an explanation for why some of the cards are found with silver borders, some with grey and some (only) with tan-ish borders...

If any of you that have wrong-backed T207's out there would care to share, that would be great! (especially if the front/back are from different classes)

Thanks.
--
Mike

[frohme]

The other one (apparently there were two wrong-backs) from this find, now the auction has ended... with a bang. ...

Once again, not my card ...
 

[mybuddyinc]

Mike,

As soon as I saw the Spratt/Phelan card, I thought of you !!

Also, I immediately recognized the Recruit Anon.3 / BL connection. Always thought that the printing connection was "obvious," but it only took 110+ years to prove ...............

Kind of sad that their aren't to many T207 enthusiasts here to appreciate such a major find .......

Fun, fun, Scott

[marcdelpercio]

I was the winner of the Rucker/Rasmussen card. The T207s have long been my favorite set, and this card is truly a one of a kind. I think your theory is right, that this could only occur with the Anon 3 Recruit cards, but still this is very odd as there is obviously some kind of crossover print run between the Recruit/Broadleaf groups. I always assumed before that they were printed entirely separately, but this is clearly not the case. It's interesting that the Spratt/Phelan card has the same miscut as the Rucker/Rasmussen, which indicates that there was probably at least one sheet printed that was a total mismatch and combination of the different groups. Anyway, amazing card and I'm very glad to be able to add this one to my T207 set!

[Cozumeleno]

Nice pickup, Marc!

[frohme]

Originally Posted by marcdelpercio

I was the winner of the Rucker/Rasmussen card. The T207s have long been my favorite set, and this card is truly a one of a kind. I think your theory is right, that this could only occur with the Anon 3 Recruit cards, but still this is very odd as there is obviously some kind of crossover print run between the Recruit/Broadleaf groups. I always assumed before that they were printed entirely separately, but this is clearly not the case. It's interesting that the Spratt/Phelan card has the same miscut as the Rucker/Rasmussen, which indicates that there was probably at least one sheet printed that was a total mismatch and combination of the different groups. Anyway, amazing card and I'm very glad to be able to add this one to my T207 set!

Congrats, Marc!

Great card - and for the record, I was not the underbidder. I had one bid in very early (< 25$ if I recall) but nothing after. Someone else must have appreciated the difficulty/significance. Good to hear from you.

Originally Posted by Cozumeleno

Nice pickup, Marc!

Hey Anson!

Nice to see a post from you, hope you're well.

--
Mike

[Luke]

I got the Spratt/Phelan. It's such a cool piece of the puzzle. I have assumed the Anon Recruits were printed at the tail end of the Recruit class print run and right before the BL class. But this obviously proves they were printed at the same time, and likely on the same sheets. Such a fun discovery. I was the underbidder, so sorry for running you up Mark, but also this was one of those times where you lose an auction and think "Damn, why didn't I bid more?" So you're welcome for that

[marcdelpercio]

Ha, I'm really glad you didn't, Luke...I bid quite a bit higher than the ending price and we would have seen a really crazy number in that case! But I'm glad that you got the Spratt/Phelan. You are right that these are such an interesting and unexpected piece to the puzzle of this set, which was already so mysterious. It seems almost certain that there was at least one full sheet of these mismatches printed, so I expect that we might see some more of these surface in the future!

[frohme]

Congrats to both of you, Luke and Marc! (I suspected that was either you or Ron on the Spratt/Phelan, Luke)

I'll be in touch with you both to discuss what this might imply for the printings as I have some (additional) ideas.

--
Mike

[Cozumeleno]

You as well, Mike. I do not get in here terribly often but any T207 post always catches my eye. Nice detective work, as usual.