1968 Topps Johnny Bench Rookie, variation or printing flaw error?
 

I noticed someone on eBay put up a 1968 Topps Johnny Bench rookie card (not my card or my auction) describing it as a variation/error, so I looked at the backs of other 1968 Bench cards and saw plenty of both versions. I had never heard of this discrepancy before. I can't tell if it was mistakenly typed as an "n" originally or if it was just the top part of the "h" was obstructed in the printing process.

Excuse my ignorance but in which word does the "h" appear?
Drew

On the second card, the first line of the bio of Bench says, "Johnny impressed tne..."

Great, now I am going to have to pull my rookies out to look at them... lol

Cliff, looks like Dean is all over this variation:

http://www.deanscards.com/search?s=1968+topps+247


Based on a small sample size, an approximate ratio appears to be for every two cards with "the", there is one copy with "tne". Not super rare, but very interesting.

Variants
 

This card is a great example of why it is so hard to define a variation versus a recurring print defect. Was this a printing error that was discovered and intentionally corrected, or was it just a recurring print defect that went unnoticed for a period of time during print runs, like the 58 Herrer or 57 Bakep. Or does it even matter ? If it does not matter then is any recurring print defect a variation ?

:confused::rolleyes: :)

Interesting...I'll have to look at mine

Picking up this thread from 6 years ago - I suppose the basic question for many (myself included) is this: did Topps accidentally send this card to the presses with the word "the" misspelled with an "n", or was there something blocking the black ink on a series of runs which resulted in a chopped off "h" which looks like an "n"? I tend to think a misspelling like this would be very unusual.

Any thoughts?

I've seen this generally accepted as a variation for some time now. To my knowledge one is not worth more than the other. This kind of thing if you are paying attention was incredibly common with 1960's Topps cards. The QC process just wasn't what it is today.

I recently posted one of the Bench variations I have for sale or trade, so I decided to see what I could determine from zooming in on the back scan.

I copied and pasted an actual 'n' from elsewhere on the card and placed it next to the bastardized 'h' for the sake of comparison, and it seems pretty straight-forward that the two letters are not both lower case n's...

Attachment 477851

Something must have simply blocked the ink meant for the h's ascender (look at my typographic knowledge!!), as the rounded nub above the X-height isn't a match for what appears on an 'n.' It looks like a sheared off 'h.'

There seems to be no shortage of the misprints, anyone know if this card was a DP.

1968 Bench
 

The Bench card was issued in the 3rd series printing. This series has 88 cards, printed 3x each (197 to 283, plus another copy of check 3 (#192)), across the 264 card sheet. In 1968, Topps used a pattern of 8 different rows with each row having 11 cards and the 8 rows repeating across the two half-sheets (or slits). Thus, one slit, containing 132 cards will have two Bench cards, while the other will have one Bench card.

So there are no SPs or DPs in this printing. However, I do not know the locations of the Bench card on the sheet.

Great info. If the card appears 3 different times on two sheet and the defect shows up on one version that could explain the lack of scarcity.

Earlier thread

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrJ...EowOytE1w7204-

1968 Topps uncut, miscuts, or wrong backs
 

The 1968 set has 598 cards, so it is identical in size to those issued in 1965 & 1966. The printings of the various sheets for the 1968 series' are slightly different, however.

From some uncut partial sheets I've seen,
a. cards 1-109 are in 1st series (110 cards since check 1 was DP),
b. 110-196 in 2nd series (88 cards with check 2 printed again),
c. 197 to 283 in 3rd series (88 cards with check 3 printed again),
d. 284 to 370 in 4th series (88 cards with check 4 again),
e. 371 to 457 in 5th series (88 cards with check 5 again),
f. 458 to 533 in 6th series (77 cards with check 6 printed again), and
g. 523 to 598 in 7th series (66 cards).

The 6th series has 44 cards printed at a slightly lower frequency than the other 33 cards in the series.

I am attempting to re-create the sheet arrangements for each series. At the moment, I am working on the 3rd series and would appreciate any postings of any 1968 uncut, miscut, or wrong back cards, particularly for the 3rd, 5th, or 7th series. I have enough info for the other series.