T206 printing mystery

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Posted By: J Hull

It's an interesting theory conceptually, Ted, and a nice exercise to hear what other experienced collectors think. I have to say I'm pretty skeptical though.

The front laminates would have to have been thick enough to take the multiple layers of ink without turning into a sodden mess and at the same time be thin enough to have been coiled without causing surface wrinkling or crazing.

Also, besides the (in)famous Wagner strip, there are T206s out there that were miscut right to left and show parts of two front images. I have one myself, and will try to scan it later. They're rare but not unheard of.

And Ted, to your friend's third factor, wouldn't smaller, more portable uncut bits (coils or whatever) that were shipped around the country to the T-factories be more likely to have survived in uncut form? I've often wondered why practically nothing in uncut form exists. What has always seemed to me to be the most plausible explanation is that the finished sheets were cut almost immediately after printing and drying. In other words, there weren't stacks of uncut sheets laying around for very long, and almost certainly they were not being shipped to the factories in uncut form. The ATC was a well-run company, but I find it hard to believe (given the techonolgy of the day and the vast quantity of cards printed) that if they'd been shipping uncut sheets (or coils, for that matter), that at some point some box wouldn't have gone astray and some uncut fragment survived to this day.

Jamie