HONUS
WAGNER AND THE T206 SET:
SOME
KEYS TO AUTHENTICATION
By David Rudd
The legendary 1909-11 T206 baseball card set is large and complex. My intent here is not to write the book on T206 authentication, but to offer some significant points that I don’t believe are covered elsewhere. With the variety of expensive variations there are many altered cards, usually with a changed letter/name plate at the bottom. Other than the point about the rim near the end of this article, the issue of identification of alterations is not addressed. The methods for this type of identification is covered in the book, so I won’t rehash that material. Lastly, while interested readers are encouraged to collect the wonderful T206 cards, the collector should only buy the-ultra rare, ultra-expensive (Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank, Larry Dolye variation, etc) from or under the supervision of a handful of nationally respected dealers or experts. To put it another way, if you buy a T206 Honus Wagner for $3,000 at eBay or a garage sale, you are dumb and I won’t like you anymore (That’s not true, I’ll still like you).
The T206s are color lithographs. This is often referred to as chromolithography, which simply is a nickname for brightly colored lithography. This printing used on the T206s is a primitive version of the lithography used to make today’s trading cards. As we will see, there are similarities and differences between the two.
The cards were printed on a thin cardboard with the fronts only (where the players appear) coated in a smooth white substance. This front layer, which was used on cards throughout the 19th and 20th century, created a smooth bright white surface that helped the images look their best. There was no white ink used, so the white areas on a T206 were created by a lack of ink against the white coating.
As many collectors know, the black border and name/team letter was printed in solid ink. The tobacco ad on the back was also printed in solid ink. While there are some reprints where these areas are also solid, if these areas are made up of tiny dots under a magnifier or microscope they are reprints.
Beyond this, there are significant trends within the player pictures.
The photo-realistic images on today’s trading cards or in magazines are made with the half-tone process, sometimes called the dot processes. To make a realistic image an image is translated into a fine pattern of printed dots. These dots can be seen with a good magnifying glass, but not with the naked eye. In modern color half-tone printing, usually three primary colors (not red, yellow, blue, as many think) plus black are used, with each color printed in dots. The combination of dots creates all the desired colors and tones, with white created by the lack of ink on the white cardstock.
Many times, solid ink will be printed over the picture, often the card company’s logo or the team name or the player’s faux signature (1971 Topps baseball). Excluding these overprinted embellishments, the image will be made up of dots and only dots.
Any and every T206 reprint will have a similar dot pattern throughout the player picture.
The T206s used half-tone printing but in a limited way. Several colors including a black ink were used, but only the black was printed in dots. Often an additional printing of solid black ink was added to the picture, usually to print a team name or abbreviation on the uniform,
This means that, unlike a reprint, the image will have areas with no dot pattern. Examine the whole image with a good magnifying glass or microscope, whichever works. The best place to find areas without half-tone dots is away from the black pattern of the player, such as in the background or perhaps on parts of the face or uniform. In the areas without a dot pattern, there will be minute ink irregularities or blips, often where colors intersect, but these are easily distinguishable from the consistent dot pattern of half-tone.
If, under proper magnification, the image is made up of the consistent multi-color dot pattern throughout the image, like that of a modern trading card, it is a reprint.
Anyone who uses a microscope of at least 30X power will see that the printing on T206 image is just plain different than the image on a modern trading card. It’s as simple as that.
A modern image is relatively neat and ordered, with a fine and rigid dot pattern that Mussolini would be proud of. At 30X or more power the T206 image suggests that the printers should’ve kept off the sauce.
Though the degrees vary, nearly all T206s have poor registration of colors. This means the colors were not lined up correctly during printing. The red background behind a player’s head may overlap the borderline one the left side and not quite reach the right borderline. On another card, the blue coloring of a player’s cap might be out of alignment with the black. In a reprint, there may appear to be poor registration. From a distance it may appear to be authentic, but close examination will prove it to be reprinted.
Examine an area of color that over laps the black borderline. Remember that the non-black colors were printed solid, and if this area is made up of the half-tone pattern of dots, it is a reprint.
When looking at the Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank or other significant T206 I consider it essential to look for the hallmark chromolithographic rim.
Perhaps not a freak occurrence, but none the less unusual in lithography is the appearance of a microscopic rim or edge in the ink. This is described in more detail with example pictures on page 51 and 63 (page numbers refer to the Prints and Antiques book). A rim is not natural to lithography, and only appears in certain cases of chromolithography including some examples of fine art. One of the cases where it appears is the Honus Wagner and all T206 cards. Though not visible on the back of the cards due to the uncoated surface, it is visible on most parts of the front. This includes the player image, borderline and name/team plate. That it exists on the name/team plate helps in identifying altered cards (‘Magee’ altered into the‘Magie’ rare error, for example). One of the reasons for the rim is the unusually thin, watery ink used, which should also be noticeable. It may appear like a watercolor painting, as opposed to the relatively thick ink in modern lithography.
On the CD-ROM, pages 32-37 in the trading card book have a number of pictures of this rim, including as it appears in the lettering of a T206.
Not only can this irregular rim be identified with relative ease, but I firmly believe that it is impossible to duplicate it in a reprint or counterfeit. It will not appear on a modern card.