Compare 2 '56 Mays cards
 

I've attached 2 '56 Willie Mays cards. The questions I have are:
- Is the variation in color/toning normal for that year?
- Could it be due to the way the card was photographed (flash/no flash) or scanner settings?
- Could it be the difference in one being a white back and one a gray back? Note: I can't tell if one is white or just light gray. Can anyone verify? Pics of back attached as well.

Any other comments are welcome on the comparative condition or potential grade-ability of either card.

Thanks!

It really could be all 3 of your examples/concerns you cited, although the top image looks a bit bright to me.

Top appears to be a gb; bottom a wb. The wb is more valuable / rarer.

As Lou said, it could be all of the things you mentioned to some degree. If these cards were scanned/photographed by different people in different places, then they lack any sort of baseline consistency, so it is impossible to tell if any issues are real or imaginary. The cards could have been printed in 1956 with wildly different coloring or it could simply be a case of a scanner's settings being too bright in 2017.

I know in the past I have taken photos of baseballs with and without flash and the pictures look like completely different colored baseballs. So I thought that was possibly the issue.

What kind of affect would the "snow" or white dots on the left side of his hat and near his temple on the top card? Any thoughts/guesses on how the top card may grade by PSA?
Chris

Dave is correct. Top Mays is gray back, bottom is white back. A good little way I can tell is by looking at the front of the 56 Cards. Gray Backs always have better front color, white backs look more dull. Mays white back is more scarce.

As far as grades, with the bottom edge wear I'm seeing on the back of the top card, I'm thinking a 5 - 5.5.
Bottom card about the same due to multiple touched corners. Both are worth grading, IMO. Might even get a 6.5 on one of them.

Thanks for the input
 

The bottom/white back card sold (not to me) earlier this week for $170. I was watching, but missed the deadline.

The top/gray back card is one I am considering buying. I think it's priced too high so I am taking a wait and see approach. Possibly trying to combine it with a similarly worn '56 Aaron. It's a white back, but at card #31, the white back isn't rare. I'm also a little worried about what looks like the surface scratch in the umpire's back and a small one across the red bill of his cap. And would the centering be a grade issue? I'm thinking at a lower grade it wouldn't matter, but appreciate input.

On the gray/white backs... I never understood why the white backs get such a premium typically from 101 - 180, but the gray backs don't get that premium in the #s below 100?