• Public Gallery  • Help  
• Join Now!  • Log In  • Feature Tour
 Adam Warshaw | Home > 
Freaks and Geeks
This is a collection of printing and cutting errors.  The process of making cards has always been a complex one with many opportunities for mistakes along the way.  I have been intrigued with printing goofs since I pulled a 1971 Jim Fregosi with a blank back out of a pack when I was a boy.  They don't happen often but when they do, they are really fun.
Date(s): June 25, 2005. Album by Adam Warshaw. 1 - 166 of 166 Total. 85449 Visits.
Start Slideshow 
Enlarge photo 1
1
T201 Ed Walsh miscut.  Note that his glove is cut off on the left and showing on the right and Walsh appears to be looking at the glove. Between the glove and the player you can see the line where the cut was supposed to be made.  The back of this card is miscut too.  Since they were full bleed cards minor miscuts on T201 are common; one this bad is not.

Enlarge photo 2
2
T205 William Bergen.  Top to bottom miscuts this severe or worse are rare as they were obvious and likely to be thrown out during quality control or by the disappointed kid who got them.

Enlarge photo 3
3
T205 Arnold Hauser.  Side to side miscut.  The "acid test" for me for a miscut versus off-center is whether the cut is severe enough to bleed into the image itself, preferably showing the card next door too.

Enlarge photo 4
4
T205 Scott misprint.  Kinda makes your eyes water, doesn't it?  You can learn a lot from a "good" misprint.  On this card you can see that the black ink was the last ink applied before the gold colored borders were added.  T205 used real metal in the borders, so they had to be last applied; the inks would not stick to the metallic borders.

Enlarge photo 5
5
Nice slipped printing job on this Livingston T205.

Enlarge photo 6
6
A HOFer deserves better treatment, no?

Enlarge photo 7
7
T205 Sheckard.  On this card, the gold border application ended early. Could be a miscut with a Newark T205 player [there are 3] because those have partial gold borders.

Enlarge photo 8
8
T205 Egan with wet sheet transfer from red front of another card.  When the cards were printed the sheets were stacked.  Occasionally a wet sheet was placed on top or below another sheet and the image transferred.  Here, the wet ink on the sheet beneath this one had not yet dried when this sheet was put on top of it, resulting in a "ghost" image on the card back.

Enlarge photo 9
9
T205 Ed Konetchy reverse.  Miscut top to bottom.

Enlarge photo 10
10

Enlarge photo 11
11
Two more T205 misprints

Enlarge photo 12
12
T206 misprint.  This Jack Barry card was misaligned when printed, resulting in the offset image.  Again, a question of degree.  Really bad offsets are rare; mild offsets resulting in a blurry image are not.

Enlarge photo 13
13
T206 Easterly.  Another drunken register.

Enlarge photo 14
14
T206 Beck.  Nice miscut; you can just see the next image at the bottom.

Enlarge photo 15
15
One of the more frequently encountered forms of T206 miscut is a card with the player's name at the top instead of the bottom.  The degree of miscut varies, from no name at the bottom to two names showing.  This Mullin card is of the latter variety.

Enlarge photo 16
16
T206 Barbeau.  I haven't been able to figure out what the ghost is; definitely a card back in red.  I suspect that the sheet was accidentally run through the press after the front printing and not caught.

Enlarge photo 17
17
This T206 Hoblitzell is missing the final layer of red ink.  The team name should be bright red and his skin is decidedly jaundiced.

Enlarge photo 18
18
T206 Titus.  Miscut back and missing red ink on the front.

Enlarge photo 19
19
Here is a comparison of the proper Titus (left) with the above card.

Enlarge photo 20
20
T207 Byrne.  Misprinted and miscut side to side.  Man, the printer had a bad day that day; too much to drink the night before?

Enlarge photo 21
21
T207 Ruelbach with a reverse miscut.

Enlarge photo 22
22
T212 Obak Ostdiek miscut.  The Obak sets (there are 3) depict players in the Pacific Coast League.  For some reason relating to technique the images on these cards are extraordinarly clear and rich.  This is the only Obak miscut severe enough to show the next card over that I've ever seen.

Enlarge photo 23
23
T212 Obak Moser back ghost.  One of the nicest Obak ghosts I've seen. One of my favorite error card categories, ghosts are highly prized by error collectors, particularly T-card ghosts.  The #38 that appears to be on his hat on the back is actually a factory-applied ink stamp.

Enlarge photo 24
24
T212 Obak miscut and upside down back. Another wrong way sheet insertion.

Enlarge photo 25
25
M116 Sporting Life printers scrap.  It is blank backed and missing most of the colors.

Enlarge photo 26
26
1928 Exhibit Virgil Barnes.  I've not seen a back ghost as nice as this one in an Exhibit card before.

Enlarge photo 27
27
W516 misprints.  I don't think I need to explain what is wrong with these strip cards.

Enlarge photo 28
28
V61 Neilsen's Edd Roush.  This is one of the best back ghosts I've ever seen in a candy card.  A printing error is easily distinguished from a "ghost" wet sheet transfer because a misprint will be facing the correct way while a ghost will be a mirror image of the card front.

Enlarge photo 29
29
Here is the front of the Roush card.

Enlarge photo 30
30
1927 York Caramel with a nice ghost back.

Enlarge photo 31
31
Whoops!  The folks at Play Ball put in the sheet upside down and made this Gumpert-DiMaggio hybrid.

Enlarge photo 32
32
1948 Leaf Warren Spahn rookie card with ghost back.  Note the reversed "B" on the hat; the image mirrors that of the stacked sheet below.

Enlarge photo 33
33
Here is the Spahn front.

Enlarge photo 34
34
1948 Leaf Johnny Vandermeer with front ghost.  The wet sheet was stacked on top of the sheet with this card, transferring the back image to the front.

Enlarge photo 35
35
1948 Leaf Mickey Harris background color variation--the card should have a green background.

Enlarge photo 36
36
1951 Bowman Cloyd Boyer with Billy Goodman back overprint.  What happened here is easy enough to figure out: the front was printed and the sheet was put into the press wrong side up and inverted for the back printing, so it got printed twice on the front and not at all on the back.

Enlarge photo 37
37
1952 Bowman Charlie Dressen blank back

Enlarge photo 38
38
1952 Topps Carl Erskine.  Oisk's a little off, wouldn't you say?

Enlarge photo 39
39

Enlarge photo 40
40
1953 miscut

Enlarge photo 41
41
1955 Topps Eddie Stanky Miscut

Enlarge photo 42
42
1955 Red Man Tobacco Bob Grim with reversed back

Enlarge photo 43
43
1959 Ace hurlers; joker cutters.

Enlarge photo 44
44
1961 Topps Frank Robinson miscut

Enlarge photo 45
45

Enlarge photo 46
46
1963 miscut

Enlarge photo 47
47

Enlarge photo 48
48
1967 Ernie Banks miscut.  Gotta love a HOFer print freak.

Enlarge photo 49
49

Enlarge photo 50
50
Hee hee, I love this one.  The sheet was 180 the wrong way when they ran the black ink.

Enlarge photo 51
51
No, you do not need a new prescription for your contact lenses.

Enlarge photo 52
52
1968 Tony Perez Miscut.

Enlarge photo 53
53
How about this 1968 Clemente misstrike?  Need 3-D glasses to look at it.

Enlarge photo 54
54
Nice diamond cut on this HOFer.

Enlarge photo 55
55
Whoops, missed it by that much...1969 Topps Chico Salmon

Enlarge photo 56
56
This is what is referred to as a "diamond cut".  Happens when the card sheet slips in the cutting machine as the cards are cut in one direction.

Enlarge photo 57
57

Enlarge photo 58
58

Enlarge photo 59
59

Enlarge photo 60
60
1970 Topps Bill Mazeroski miscut

Enlarge photo 61
61
Now this what I'm talkin' about!

Enlarge photo 62
62
Ditto!

Enlarge photo 63
63
Not Joe's year...

Enlarge photo 64
64

Enlarge photo 65
65
1971 Topps Syd O'Brien misstrike.

Enlarge photo 66
66
1971 Alomar misstrike

Enlarge photo 67
67
1971 O'Donoghue misstrike and miscut

Enlarge photo 68
68
I love this type of 1971 error because I actually pulled one from a pack in 1971.  Hard to believe that was 40 years ago.

Enlarge photo 69
69
Front and back aligned; the cutting went wrong.

Enlarge photo 70
70
Thurman Munson was my favorite player when I was a kid and his 1971 card sells for big bux when it is in top condition.  I think I paid five bucks for this one and I like it even more than the high grade ones I've owned.

Enlarge photo 71
71
A few more 1971 miscuts.

Enlarge photo 72
72
I'm going to go ahead and guess that this was not what Topps had in mind...

Enlarge photo 73
73

Enlarge photo 74
74

Enlarge photo 75
75

Enlarge photo 76
76

Enlarge photo 77
77

Enlarge photo 78
78

Enlarge photo 79
79

Enlarge photo 80
80

Enlarge photo 81
81

Enlarge photo 82
82

Enlarge photo 83
83

Enlarge photo 84
84
How did they send out this one? 1971 Topps Super Boog Powell blank front.

Enlarge photo 85
85
Looks like a wet sheet back transfer. I like it!

Enlarge photo 86
86

Enlarge photo 87
87
1973 Topps Nolan Ryan miscut.  Not the worst I've seen but I really like Ryan and this card so I figured why not get it.

Enlarge photo 88
88
Hammerin' Hank's ugliest card and nicely miscut, 1973

Enlarge photo 89
89

Enlarge photo 90
90
1975 Topps Tom Seaver.  Tom is terrific; Topps' QC not so much.

Enlarge photo 91
91
1975 Topps Mini Steve Garvey; I will call him "Mini Miscut."

Enlarge photo 92
92

Enlarge photo 93
93

Enlarge photo 94
94
Yipes, as bad as the 1975 Seaver.  With two cards in the hall of flubs, Tony Perez gets no respect.

Enlarge photo 95
95
Then again, neither does Nolan Ryan, since Topps screwed the pooch on this 1976 too.

Enlarge photo 96
96
Here are some wonderful 1970s Topps and 1981 Fleer goofs.  Top row: 1968 Billy Williams miscut, 1970 Topps Harmon Killebrew miscut, 1973 Topps Luis Aparicio miscut and wrong back.  2nd Row: 1971 and 1976 Topps partial print backs.  3rd row: 1971 Topps partial print backs.  Bottom row: 1981 Topps miscut back, 1981 Fleer miscut back.

Enlarge photo 97
97
T220 Joe Coburn/Joe Gans.  Where do I begin?  The card has the wrong back and it is upside down, almost certainly because the sheet was run through the press facing the wrong way.  The borders are hand cut and not very well.  I assume that this was printers scrap that made it out the back door of the factory.

Enlarge photo 98
98
T224/T229 Pet Cigarettes Jack Johnson.  Card from this West Coast set of 2 brands (Pet and Kopec) are extremely scarce; T229 Kopec is one of the rarest T cards, with only a few examples having come to market over the last several years.  This Jack Johnson (the key to the set) has a nice front ghost and a wrong back.  I suspect that it was in fact put out by the manufacturer and torn later by some kid.

Enlarge photo 99
99
Back of the Johnson with wrong bio, printed upside down and off-center.

Enlarge photo 100
100
T229 Pet Cigarettes Jim Flynn.  Nice misaligned image floating above him.

Enlarge photo 101
101
T218 Joe Jeannette front ghost.  Look at the edges closely.

Enlarge photo 102
102
T218 Jim Jeffries fighting pose.  Jeffries was heavyweight champion for several years and is highly collectible.

Enlarge photo 103
103
Here is the back of the card with a wet sheet ghost showing his arm and fist at the Hassan label.

Enlarge photo 104
104
Decalco Litho Co. Jack Dempsey.  Another strip card error from the 1920s.  Missed by a mile.

Enlarge photo 105
105
E76 American Caramel Jack O'Brien miscut back.  The front of the card is fine.

Enlarge photo 106
106
E76 George Gardner back miscut.  Interesting how at least some of these were aligned on the sheet top to top; look at the prior miscut, which is top to bottom aligned.

Enlarge photo 107
107
Interesting E76 error where somehow a print pass for one color shifted over to another card.  Tells you that not all of the blue was printed in one pass.

Enlarge photo 108
108
Missed the blue ink pass for the lettering here; further proof that not all the blue was in one pass.

Enlarge photo 109
109
1948 Leaf Ceferino Garcia.  Miscut and misprint.  Leaf's quality control was abysmal and falls into 4 main categories:  (1) Offcentered cards and blurry cards from slight print misalignments are common, (2) Cards missing the back printing are rare, (3) reversed sheet cards (where the front was printed on an upside down sheet, resulting in backs that don't match the fronts) also are known but rare, and (4) missing ink cards are very rare.  This Garcia is missing the blue ink.

Enlarge photo 110
110
Here is what the Garcia is supposed to look like.

Enlarge photo 111
111
Lower left corner shows La Motta and Tunney missing red ink.  See next two pics for their proper cards.

Enlarge photo 112
112
1948 Leaf Gene Tunney normal printing.

Enlarge photo 113
113
1948 Leaf Jake La Motta normal printing.

Enlarge photo 114
114
Gene Tunney missing background color

Enlarge photo 115
115
Bob Montgomery missing background.  I actually think these cards look really cool in black and blue.

Enlarge photo 116
116
1948 Leaf Jake La Motta/Jack Dempsey wrong front

Enlarge photo 117
117
1948 Leaf Jim Corbett missing the blue ink.

Enlarge photo 118
118
1948 Leaf Max Schmeling.  Someone at the printer had a bad day.  Not a lot around this badly misaligned; I guess there was some quality control.

Enlarge photo 119
119
four eyes!

Enlarge photo 120
120
1948 Leaf Jackie Fields/Max Baer scrap.  The card was partially printed at 180 degrees from normal, hence the rotated image. Interestingly, whenever a Fields wrong back is found, the card back is Baer.  What this tells you is that Baer and Fields are on corresponding opposite sides of the sheet.  Baer in fact is the far left card in the third row (of 7 rows of 7 cards) and Fields is the far right card in the fifth row.  This card and the next two likely came from the same sheet feeding mistake.

Enlarge photo 121
121
1948 Leaf Al Hostak/Jack Sharkey printing error.  This one, the pressman fed the sheet into the press upside down for the red and blue inks.  Hostak is the third card from the right in the fourth row; Sharkey is the third card from the left in that row.

Enlarge photo 122
122
Mickey Walker/Henry Armstrong rotated print.  Another one that made it into the press flipped 180 degrees. Walker is the third card from the right in the 6th row; Armstrong is the third card from the left on the second row.

Enlarge photo 123
123
The next four 1948 Leaf cards illustrate what happens when the pressman accidentally prints a sheet with one side facing the wrong way.  If the cards are cut correctly for the backs, you get miscut wrong fronts.  If cut for the fronts, you get miscut wrong backs.

Enlarge photo 124
124
So why are miscut front wrong-backed cards so much harder to find than cards with properly aligned fronts and wrong, miscut backs?

Enlarge photo 125
125
Probably because the printers aligned the cards face up to cut.  So, the odds are that a miscut front with a nicely centered wrong back was not only fed into the press facing the wrong way, it was then cut with the card back facing up in the stack, hence aligned for the back, not the front.

Enlarge photo 126
126
Another wrong front 1948 Leaf.

Enlarge photo 127
127
A nicely miscut Sugar Ray Robinson

Enlarge photo 128
128
Blank back Bettina

Enlarge photo 129
129

Enlarge photo 130
130

Enlarge photo 131
131

Enlarge photo 132
132

Enlarge photo 133
133
A miscut 1951 Ringside Barney Ross

Enlarge photo 134
134
1951 Ringside Walcott miscut.

Enlarge photo 135
135
1951 Ringside Marcel Cerdan miscut. Sacre bleu!

Enlarge photo 136
136
Hee, hee, I love this misprinted 1951 Ringside.

Enlarge photo 137
137
The Golden Boy makes for a golden misprinted 1951 Ringside card.

Enlarge photo 138
138
1956 Topps Jim Doran/Leon Hart miscut

Enlarge photo 139
139
1959 Topps.  Some nice football miscuts here.

Enlarge photo 140
140
1961 Fleer George Blanda with a Dave Smith back.

Enlarge photo 141
141
1962 Fleer miscuts.  And yes, they line up perfectly.

Enlarge photo 142
142

Enlarge photo 143
143
The next three images are some sweet 1968 Topps miscuts.  Talk about a mess!

Enlarge photo 144
144

Enlarge photo 145
145

Enlarge photo 146
146
1954-55 Topps Bill Quackenbush miscut.  Properly centered card of Bill Gadsby on the right for comparison

Enlarge photo 147
147
1971-72 Bob Rule.  Uh, his position is supposed to be at the bottom, guys.

Enlarge photo 148
148
Jerry West blank back.

Enlarge photo 149
149
E8 card with an E78 back.

Enlarge photo 150
150

Enlarge photo 151
151

Enlarge photo 152
152

Enlarge photo 153
153

Enlarge photo 154
154

Enlarge photo 155
155

Enlarge photo 156
156

Enlarge photo 157
157

Enlarge photo 158
158

Enlarge photo 159
159

Enlarge photo 160
160

Enlarge photo 161
161

Enlarge photo 162
162

Enlarge photo 163
163

Enlarge photo 164
164

Enlarge photo 165
165

Enlarge photo 166
166

 
   
 Email a Comment
 Your Comment is
 immediately emailed
 to the album owner
Name:   Enter your comment
  
Email: 
Subject: 
 
Album Properties. Email Album. Send Invitation. Share URL