What do you make of this T206 Wiltse Portrait - No Cap?

[mkdltn]

I think there are two blues. A light blue and a dark blue. The light blue pass for this card appears to be absent but the dark blue is there in the background. I downloaded the scan of the Wiltse card from the LOC site which has poor register which gives clues to the cards color makeup. The image below is a blownup view of the corner where all the different color passes that make up the background can be seen. Your beater seems to have a lighter background since the gray and light blue are gone. Could this be from an aborted print run?
Perhaps the light blue, Pink and Gray the final colors in the card.

[steve B]

It gets more curious all the time.

I'm not convinced there were 2 blue passes, But I might be convinced. I'll have to have a look at more of the LOC cards. Awesome resource.

The light blue/dark blue border is right along the edge of the gray. I think it's just the gray making it appear darker.

The LOC card has some differences, mostly in the name/team.
But the blue is similar to the nice one. to the left at the level of the mouth all 3 have a blue dot that's outside the main image area. Also all 3 have a brown or black dot in the same area. all 3 also have a blue dot in the left side earlobe.

But the light one does not have blue in the uniform, aside from a couple individual spots that match spots on the nice one. (And arenot on the LOC card)and none in the eyes. So maybe 2 blue passes? Or maybe a different blue plate. Another possibility is worn plate. I've been reading up on the history of lithography, and the stone lithography worked a tiny bit diferent from modern plates. What's confusing about a worn stone being responsible is that most of the rest of the blue image is just fine. Possibly an underexposed stone?

Gray and pink are certainly missing. Wether this was by accident - An unfinished sheet- Or by design where the pink and gray were added to the press run later would be very hard to tell. It's possible the colors could have been added later, along with a strengthened blue. It could also be a difference between 150 printings and 150/350 printings.

Steve B

[steve B]

I had a close look at a few of my T206s yesterday.

Most had a clear dark blue and a clear light blue pass.

So yes, another missing color.

Steve B