T206 Print Groups-A Quick Overview

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by steve B

Exactly the sort of thing I'd be looking for.

The process wasn't precise, and both Ames have a similar enough dot pattern on black that they probably came from the same master.

But the blue is slightly different, and less or more noticable, the plate scratch ones have a gray layer in the hat, while on the caption varieties it's closer to peach.
To me that along with the Schulte differences (as well as the right side of the bat having an extra line if it's not a different color shifted) would confirm two different press runs.

The next steps would be comparing different brands, and comparing ones that we know are sheetmates from the plate scratch sheets that did carry over into the 350 series to see if there are differences there.

It's entirely possible there are transitional ones too, where front sheets for Piedmont and SC 150 were used to print Piedmont and SC 350.

Really interesting information Steve. I scanned ten of my Conroy's with different backs at 1200 dpi's (boy does that eat up your computer memory).
You can clearly see the difference in the 350 backs and 460 backs.

The 350 backs have a lot of peach color around the Washington logo while the 460 backs has very little. You can see other differences in the two series with the large scans but the heavy peach on the 350's is what stands out the most.

What's nice is you can tell which series the assorted backs were printed with for instance the EPDG was printed with the 350 backs and the Polar Bear and Tolstoi were printed with the 460 backs.
I didn't scan the Old Mill but that was also printed with the 460 backs so the EPDG was the only assorted back that was printed in one of the 350 print runs.

[IMG][/IMG]

[steve B]

Plus the 350's seem to have the peach at the front of the hat in a blotchy pattern while the 460's have a gray halftone there. Except... the AB 350 has 460 shading at the front of the hat.

That could be an example of a transitional type between the 350s and 460's, as it has traits of both.
Both gray and peach should have been fairly early colors.
I'm thinking the transitions between series were somewhat chaotic.
Like for this one, they still needed to produce some AB350's but had the gray plate for the 460 series finished and just switched to it early.

If those transitional types ever get properly identified and cataloged I believe there will be some real rarities.

I'm very glad there's someone like you with a big enough collection to make those comparisons and the interest to do the scans.

The spreadsheet I did showing the different groups of 49 Leaf took months of saving photos from various sources - mostly ebay. And that's a pretty small set with far fewer complications.

[chriskim]

Pat,
Thx for sharing your Conroy pics. I could see those images this time! It is amazing to see those Conroy images side by side, their background colors do look very diff.

[Pat R]

Steve, I thought this would be a good pair to compare.
Two different Randall's that were printed in the same position but most likely in different print runs.

img661 - Copy.jpg
img660 - Copy.jpg

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Is the heavier Red/Peach stippling on the caption flaw version evidence of a change or is it just due to different ink levels?

I also checked all the other examples of each version and with the ones that the scans were big enough to tell the alignment mark near the top inside the border is on all the caption flaw examples but not the no flaw examples.

[jggames]

I always thought my Randall looked funny because of the heavy blue, it's really interesting to see these others up close

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Steve, I thought this would be a good pair to compare.
Two different Randall's that were printed in the same position but most likely in different print runs.

Attachment 504812
Attachment 504813

[IMG][/IMG]

Is the heavier Red/Peach stippling on the caption flaw version evidence of a change or is it just due to different ink levels?

I also checked all the other examples of each version and with the ones that the scans were big enough to tell the alignment mark near the top inside the border is on all the caption flaw examples but not the no flaw examples.

I think the red may be just a difference in inking. Heavier or lighter, and the exact colors were mixed by hand, to a formula that isn't always precise.

One thing I look at is if the color is in one place on one card, but not there on another example.
Or, if the halftone dot pattern is very different.

On these, I'm seeing a couple areas where the black could be different, but it's also a difference that could be from normal plate wear. Or it could be a more heavily printed transfer from the same master.

One thing that's done in stamps is to require a confirming copy of a variety.* With the Conroys that's there for sure. With these Randalls, finding multiples of the very small differences in black would go a long way towards confirming if it's a different transfer from the same master.



The stuff below is off topic, but explains in part why seeing clear scans of differences is so much fun and excitement for me.


* which is at times so very frustating! In the series I specialize in there are a few listed varieties that are currently not known to exist, and were only mentioned in an era when printing pictures of stamps was mostly illegal (and the writers were often more interested in revealing new varieties based on hearing about them than actually owning or seeing them)
I have three "maybe" stamps for listed but not seen since the 30's if ever varieties that may have happened very late in production. Going on about 10 years looking for a second copy of any of them.