1989 Topps oddity

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Looks like the cardboard stock didn't get the white coating before printing.

As a Mets collector I would love to find a card like that.

As Steve pointed out if that was the case the uniform (and the topps logo) should be brown. White isn't a printed color. White is revealed as blank spots where the rest of the colors are printed.

[ALR-bishop]

Seller believed it to be a proof/prototype card that came from Topps Vault. He said he had others...all from sheet F. I mentioned earlier that the back is like my regular Elster card. This is the back of the gold border version

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by bn2cardz

As Steve pointed out if that was the case the uniform (and the topps logo) should be brown. White isn't a printed color. White is revealed as blank spots where the rest of the colors are printed.

The card stock is white on 1 side and plain on the other, the white border is not printed on with other colors, its already there before the pic is printed.

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by Jim65

The card stock is white on 1 side and plain on the other, the white border is not printed on with other colors, its already there before the pic is printed.

They wouldn't do just the white boarder. They would lay down a white coating then print the other colors over the top. The way you are suggesting they would do the white boarder, then lay down the other colors on top of a cardboard color yet still print the white topps logo as well as the uniform... there is no white ink in the color process. White has to be laid down first then printed on. So why would they do the borders, and then print the white inside of that separate?

[ALR-bishop]

...on ebay is shoehart

[nolemmings]

or shoeheart

[ALR-bishop]

......that

[con40]

The stock Topps used from 1952 through 1991 is called C1S clay-coated chipboard. It's cheap cardboard stock made from unbleached "chips" of wood pulp (the garbage screened away from higher quality stock). This chipboard is then skinned with a thin clay-coated (giving it good ink holdout) white stock. The two stocks are adhered to make the final sheet.

If this Elster card truly has a chipboard back, chipboard border, and white clay coat under the printed area, the only way it could have been made was by removing the white stock in the border area.

There is a chemical process to achieve this look. Kevin Saucier knew how to do it. What I don't know is if it can be done in such a precise manner.

On the other hand, if this is a gold or tan color in the border area, then it would indicate that the card was printed with a fifth color (a solid tan ink) to fill in the border areas. If so, it's possible that Tops could have masked up a 132-card full sheet (or 66-card half sheet) and printed all the borders on each card. When trimmed, this is what the final cards would look like. If that's the case, there should be more of these out there. Even on a test basis, Topps would have printed at least 100-200 sheets.