Ok, now you have stepped in it Keith
, you now have to give us your definition of a "true variation". Does it include the 58 Herrer and 57 Bakep, or the 52 Campos/House cards ?
I agree this is not a variation , which is what I call a card that was intentionally changed by the manufacturer for any reason ( this would, for me, include cropping or other differences in DP cards like the 52 Mantle or the 62 green tints, since they resulted from conscious decisions about how to set up the print runs).
But some of us collect what I would call variants, which are just cards that are in some way , any way, different from their counterparts. Recurring print defects are one example, like the border irregularity that occurs in some of the 52 Snider cards or the Campos partially missing front border. And if someone takes the view that any difference in a card, for any reason, is a variation, what official hobby rule book says they are wrong
Even if this card is not a variation, or a recurring print defect, it can still be a recurring variant. You can easily find both versions of this card...and there are differences
Wanted to add that Keith makes some of the finest "cards that never were".... and I have a bunch of them. And, like Steve, a go to guy for me on questions about the printing processes involving baseball cards