[G1911]

Not all differences are variations. There are a number of variants that are recurring print defects in T220, that don’t appear to involve an intentional change to the printing, plate, or process but are recurring. These include the Donovan and Fitzsimmons yellow smear cards, the Mace and King card with the red ink layer from another card, etc.. I would not call these true variations and necessary for a master set, though they are fun to collect with one, because they were unintended (as told by their imprecise nature) and did not involve a design change correction.

There are 2 groups of cards, the cards that were printed first with the Silver borders and then a second group that did not have the Silver border versions, each of which share unique design characteristics in the single fighter cards. I’ve posted about this and the Joe Coburn Blue Man variation before.

In the second group, there is a series of variations that I have never seen mentioned by anyone, though they appear pretty clear and obvious to me. Many of the cards in print group 2 appear to have been intended to have had a solid background color (like Leach Cross’ card) instead of adjusting the color for the rings and ropes or separate colored floor most cards have. The result is the entire background is overprinted with a layer of the primary background color, precisely. It is NOT like the Donovan and Fitzsimmons yellow smear that are recurring defects, the extra ink is precisely fit around the image of the fighter and the black borders. This was changed at some point in the run to correctly color the backgrounds. The precision of the layer and it’s removal are key to a variation vs. a recurring print defect.

This does not affect every card in print group 2. The breakdown is as follows:
James J. Barry - obvious on the ring floor, the ropes and post in the background. Note they are printed with a dark orange layer, every little spot besides Barry himself, precisely fit.

John L. Sullivan - same as Barry.

Frankie Madden - Note the same effect, but with the red color printed over the ring and post, the entire background.

Peter Maher - Again, the red overprint. It is even more noticeable than the madden because all Madden’s were printed with a red ring mat, Maher was corrected.

Tom Sharkey - A 3rd Red one, note the ring mat, the post, the ropes.

Joe Wagner - Note the ring mat, again precisely shaped to cover every spot of the background behind Wagner, not an accidental ink smear.

Mike Donovan 60’s - same as Wagner.

Net54 reduces image quality because my photograph files are too large, but in hand one can clearly see the separate layer of ink that covers the entire background when it is sometimes offset just a fraction, as happens on most T cards. I can provide better comparisons outside a thread.

The overlay variations are not very difficult. It is on a minority of each boxers cards, but they are still fairly easy to locate and not that much tougher than the basic card (similar to the difference between Mecca 649 and Mecca 30 backs, 30’s are noticeably more difficult but hardly tough to find). You can get most of them off eBay without much hassle at any time, except Donovan.

I’ve been tracking these for about three years now, I identified all of these within 2 months, except the Donovan 60’s. I only found it on his card a few months ago, on the Mecca 30 pictured, and have not yet seen a second example. All other cards shown here have this overlay variant appearing on their Mecca 30 and Mecca 649 cards (I think, referencing my original notes I see that my phrasing on seeing a Sullivan 30 is ambiguous. I do not think this reflects scarcity, simply my crappy note taking and then not looking to confirm it after that). I have not seen any Tolstoi cards with the overlay variation, but that may be due to the much smaller sample size available to me. I suspect Tolstoi was printed late in the run, and these do not exist.

The other cards that theoretically could have this variation, but I have not seen an example of are:
Tommy Burns
George Dixon
Bob Fitzsimmons
Jack Goodman (all of his cards have orangish ropes that were never corrected, his floor color varies more than the other cards do, but it is not an extra layer of orange causing this)
Young Griffo
Marvin Hart
Frank Klaus
Charlie Mitchell
Jack O’Brien
Freddie Welsh.

In short, this constitutes the green or blue backgrounds, a red, and an orange I have not seen with this defect. I suspect that at this point they do not exist. Goodman and Dixon seem the likeliest candidates to have this variation, as all of the 7 confirmed are red or orange.

If Donovan exists with a factory 649 back (I strongly suspect he does), this adds 14 cards to a true master set. With the addition of the recurring, probably intentional change to Coburn’s card to better remove the blue man early in the run, this makes 15 additional variations to the standard back master set (50 Mecca 30, 50 Mecca 649, 50 Tolstoi, 25 Silver Mecca 649), producing a 190 card master set.

In the photo, the “normal” corrected copy of a card is on left, the overlay variation on right for easy comparison.

I’d be interested in seeing a 649 Donovan if anyone has one, or any other thoughts or research that maybe has been done. Also, a shameless plug that I am looking for these overlay variations to complete my master set:
Mike Donovan 60’s, Factory 649
John L. Sullivan, Factory 30
Joe Wager, Factory 649