1961 Topps #405 Lou Gehrig Benched "black tooth" variation?

[ALR-bishop]

I think in many cases it is impossible to distinguish between a recurring print defect and a variation created by an intentional change in the printing process by the manufacturer. The fact this defect occurred where it did and is noticeable makes is plausible that if the defect occurred in early runs it was noticed and corrected, like for example the 66 open fly button on Landrum that was airbrushed out. That one is easier to diagnose because it was more prominent and the correction occurred in 2 or maybe 3 phases.

On most recurring defects there is no way to really tell if they were inadvertent defects that occurred in some runs and were not intentionally addressed.

But as far as I know there is no hobby standard or accepted official definition of what constitutes a true variation. The 58 Herrer and 57 Bakep would seem to be just recurring print defects but because they have hobby recognition are greatly valued by master set collectors.

Unless a variant card gets recognition by SCD, Becketts, or The Registry, it tends to be collected only by ardent variant collectors like me and not attain much if any premium. But if a recurring defect like the smudge of green in the bottom of baseball on the back of the 61 Fairly card gets recognized by PSA, master collectors have to have it and the value takes off

I just collect them to go with my sets because I find them interesting and enjoy interaction with those who collect them. There are several such collectors and an ongoing thread on them on the Net54 post war board