Posted By:
Joe D.I would guess the text on the bottom was its own plate / along with the border.
The ink rotation may have gone from lightest to darkest.... I don't know the norms of the time and I am sure it has changed over the years.
I would like to point out - being a craft, a pressman or a shop foreman may have changed the rotation of the ink order if doing so might have offered a better printing result.
Also, from a business standpoint, if a print-job was on right before that one - it is understandable that the last color used on the prior job (ink still in the fountain) is the first color run on the next job (if possible).
This opens the possibility that the ink rotation varied.
Does anyone know if the T206s were printed on single color presses? or multi-color presses?
Admittedly I don't know the history of the machinery as well as I should.
edit to say:
btw - printing plates only have a certain usable amount of impressions they could make... and I would guess that number was much lower back then than it is today. So... I don't how often an opportunity a printer would have to save plates (considering how large the T206 run was) so that they could be used in other sets.