Baseball Player Printing Plate
 

I stumbled into this one in a box of old printing plates at an antique shop in upstate New York this afternoon. Anybody recognize the image or the player? I have a dream that this is from a card -- it is the same size as, and sorta looks like, a T201-- but I think it is from an old newspaper.

Any thoughts? Opinions as to value? Thanks!


<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4EO_il7Cy9tQ79Pj8fCnyIRT3dysq2WPtX5u9gk-z0Y?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Y3lKMZKUIhQ/T_D8iJn3Q6I/AAAAAAAALFI/GCtxNu28Jeg/s800/PrintingPlatePlayer.jpg" height="800" width="443" /></a>

A t201 was a photo right? Cool plate though.

T201's used lithography (I believe) not a real photo... such as N172. Cool printing plate but I have no idea what it might have been used for.

Is that yellow paint on the plate?

i would bet it was used as a generic piece of baseball player art. Throughout the history of the printed word, there has been large stores of art that is used when you need to do a quick ad or schedule that uses a baseball player, car, housewife, etc. Unfortunately, few of us could draw and the artist was normally three drinks deep into happy hour, hence the need of a repository of generic art.

I have worked in the industry during the transition from hot type to cold type (metal type and graphics set by hand vs. computer generated). I would guess that if it is generic it might be worth $25-50 because of the content. Here's a similar lot of hand tool plates. Of course, baseball content is more popular. If you find it was used in the production of something famous or that the player is an actual person, not a generic image, it could be worth more.

your right. I was thinking of the Fatima cards

Odds are it's from a magazine or newspaper. As newspapers and magazines were printing new stuff regularly, daily for newspapers, much of these types of plates are from them.

I've seen other baseball printing plates, and your's is a nicer example. More detailed graphics than usual.

I once had a circa 1940 complete set of Red Sox player printing plates in the original box-- Red Sox return address and newspaper editor foreword address. The only problem was they were cardboard not metal and not terribly attractive.

Looks like something from a newspaper composition room... There'd have been a linotype machine, a pot to melt the metal (lead, antimony and tin), and drawers and trays with lots of type and objects, such as that ballplayer.

Could this be the case for the missing plates that cant be found for the tobacco cards??

Short answer - No.

Long answer - No, because the sort of plate and type of printing were completely different. The one shown is a block for typography, making that block took enough time that the blocks were usually kept. Especially nice detailed ones.

The T206/205 and others were lithographed. Either from a plate or from a stone. The plate would have been thin aluminum, and likely got recycled after use. The stones were expensive, and thick. Typically after the press run they were resurfaced and used to print something else. The only exceptions would have been stuff like letterheads for customers who ordered regularly.

I'm very curious about DRCs Red Sox plates. I've never seen cardboard plates. Maybe masters to make the blocks from? A very odd item. Any idea where it is now?

Steve B

That's a very neat piece. Is there any writing at all on the printing block or other indicators? Perhaps it is a generic representation of a baseball player and may have come from some publication or calendar as others have suggested. Not to be the master of the obvious but what appears to be the sun in the background may be a big clue to it's origins/what they were advertising.

No writing, except maybe perhaps on the shoe. The funny thing is that the picture makes the plate glow bronze, but it is almost entirely black in my hand!