T206 printing mystery

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

BRIAN W.

Great research on American Lithograph and very interesting.

Now, I was not in anyway comparing the availability of any post-War Gum Card sheets
with pre-War T or E-card sheets. I was simply making the point that I have, for
almost 30 years, actively sought out original uncut sportscard related material.

And, in this pursuit, I have not even had the slightest hint of any such material
from the T-card era. This I find very puzzling. Now, most of all the pre-War and
post-War sheets that I have acquired were available because........

(1) Printing employees, for whatever reasons, took these sheets home with them.
And, in the late '70s or early '80s when this hobby was becoming popular they, or
their children or grandchildren, brought this stuff out of the woodwork.

(2) Reject sheets due to printing errors, etc. were found in old warehouses.

(3) Or major printing firms were very proud of their products and invariably displayed
them professionally in their offices. Such was the case when I visited in 1981 with
George Moll (the real force behind the PlayBall and Bowman cards). Printers of all
stripes love to show-off their printed material and usually printed up many samples
to hand out to their customers.

And, I am sure this was true at Am. Litho.; and therefore, some of these display
pieces and samples should have survived. This kind of stuff always does.
I do not care if they are 50 years old....or 100 years old, when you have a product
such as T206 cards that were produced in the MILLIONS, you will inevitably find
original sheets (or sample panels) of them.

Unless there were none to begin with. And, I find this hard to believe.....but I am
beginning to think so.

T-Rex TED