A little help from the printing experts, please...

[Mark70Z]

Darren,

If it’s a printing plate it should be aluminum. I don’t have the exact year, probably mid-80’s, Mid-Atlantic Coin Exchange was selling ‘62 Baseball Green Tint plates. I believe they had Baseball, but also Football and Hockey printing plates. I know some of the sheets were cut to individual size cards, but I’ve also seen some sheets as well. Unsure how they got their hands on them, but they are out there.

[JollyElm]

Is there a non-invasive way to readily determine whether or not something is aluminum?

[steve B]

There is. There are hand held spectrometers that can tell very reliably. But they're still rather expensive.


But the better question is "is there an inexpensive non- invasive way to check if something is aluminum"


The only thing I can think of would be measuring the density. Calculate volume, weigh and compare to what a bit of aluminum that volume should weigh. It would take some accurate equipment, but it would be fairly reliable and wouldn't damage the plate.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Darren,

If it’s a printing plate it should be aluminum. I don’t have the exact year, probably mid-80’s, Mid-Atlantic Coin Exchange was selling ‘62 Baseball Green Tint plates. I believe they had Baseball, but also Football and Hockey printing plates. I know some of the sheets were cut to individual size cards, but I’ve also seen some sheets as well. Unsure how they got their hands on them, but they are out there.

I blogged on these a while back and wrote:

"A large find of 1962 aluminum sheets was noted in an SCD ad in the January 31, 1986 issue where Mid-Atlantic Coin Exchange was selling 1962 Baseball Green Tint plates (second series). They also had a number of 1962 Hockey plates as well. All of these had been cut from the original, larger aluminum sheets used to make the cards. However, at least two partial sheets have survived from the Hockey run"

http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/se...Topps%20Hockey

I believe they came from a Topps printer in Hampden, Connecticut and were found at the home of a former employee there.

[JTysver]

Plastic plates generally have raised areas and are not used for offset printing and they crack. This is an offset plate. We know that because it isn't reversed. What occurs is the image is transferred to a blanket and then to the paper.
My experience with this printing is using aluminum. I'm not sure what process was used in 1962 however.

[Mark70Z]

Here’s a ‘62 Topps AS that’s aluminum.