Cobb orange portrait......... Legit or just off color ???

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Posted By: Jamie Hull

The proof seems pretty strong that red was the final color applied to T206 cards during the printing process. There are the well-known Boston player cards which are missing red ink, but which are otherwise normal T206s in all respects. The level/amount of red ink seems to run across the spectrum from dark red, to pale red, to no red at all. Seems like it was just a matter of the press running low on the red ink and then eventually (at least occasionally) running out entirely before the pressman noticed it.
Aside from the Boston players, you also most obviously see it with the T206s having a red background. Hence portraits, like Cobb, display a similar range of red shades. I believe the dark red background of all the “normal” red-background portrait cards was the product of a layer of red being applied over an already orange background. Hence, true orange Cobb cards would be like any other cards entirely missing the layer of red ink. And so truly orange would be truly rare, while cards tending toward orange would be more common. Price premiums would, I imagine, follow that arc.

Jamie