The curious case of 1948 Leaf
 

While working on the next edition of my book I've been revisiting some issues, among them 1948 Leaf. There are quite a few substantial print variations in the set. I've been more aware of and obsessed with the print freaks (blank backs, misprints, ghosts, etc.) but these variations are the real deal. The ones I've seen involve the gloves and/or trunks of the boxers. It appears that for a substantial group of the cards, the boxers' gloves or, er, boxers, can be on the spectrum from red to blue. Here are some Joe Louis variations:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0Composite.jpg

Both are gray backs. I have a white back with the red gloves.

There also seems to be a print variation on the Louis where his forearm is heavily shaded to varying degrees.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...size/Louis.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...Louis%20WB.jpg

I've also cataloged glove color variations on several other cards.

If anyone has variations to share, I'd love to see them.

The quality control was so bad it sometimes seems that there are an endless number of print variations and no 2 cards are actually alike!


I have had a couple complete sets I traded away and am building another one in low grade to keep. Quite a few of the cards come with the "purple" variation; I suspect all cards that portray gloved boxers have it. I have noticed over the years that they are more common on grey back cards where it seems red ink was replaced with the purple tone throughout the image of the boxer on some cards (though the background is still red on red background cards), like for John Henry Lewis. White Back Purple's are harder, though not a true scarcity. I have white back purples of Mickey Walker, Melio Bettini (purple glove, but red trunks), Bob Montgomery. I've never paid a premium for these

Also - another variation I haven't seen discussed before is on the card of #20 Harry Greb.

He comes in 3 varieties before we even get to the gray/white backs. Light blue shirt, solid white shirt, and 1/3 light blue and 2/3 white. None of the 3 are really scarce. In combination with purple/dark gloves and white/gray backs, he may have 10 or more total possible cards. You can see all 3 shirt variants on eBay right now, as I don't have a plain white shirt, but here are the 2 I currently own (both white backs): https://imgur.com/a/LnXAz

Unlike many of the leaf printing discrepancies and differences, this one strikes me as legitimate, proper variation that should be catalogued.