Printing press plates for cards

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Steve...just so you know you were the one I was referring to when it came to going over the printing process in the past (I think it was in a thread referring to progressive proofs if I'm not mistaken). Anyway, if the modern cards have 4 plates, how many did the more vintage cards have? Was it one for each color? I've seen as many as 10 progressive proofs; does that mean they used 10 printing plates... We know in this example it's at least 6.

Hi mark,

I think I get the question. Actually Ted's pic shows what looks like 5. The last one I am unsure as to what pass it is as it is so light. It's a bit of a mystery to me as to why there is 5 different in his collection as here is what I know about topps process. (I am a hack mind you, not an expert)

The vintage cards used a RGB 4 color process. This would be 4 passes of red, green, blue and black. Modern cards use a CMYK process, this is 4 passes of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

This is how I understand it, if someone can correct me that's fine.

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by JustinD

Hi mark,

I think I get the question. Actually Ted's pic shows what looks like 5. The last one I am unsure as to what pass it is as it is so light.

This is how I understand it, if someone can correct me that's fine.

Justin,

You are correct that Ted pictured 5 plates, but he said he sold one of the plates which would have made 6 total. What I didnt consider, when I asked the question, was what Steve said about the number same player cards on a sheet. Therefore, if the card is on there more than once the number of plates would of course be more.

You mentioned you were a hack when it came to the printing process, but as you can see I haven't even reached the hack level.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Justin,

You are correct that Ted pictured 5 plates, but he said he sold one of the plates which would have made 6 total. What I didnt consider, when I asked the question, was what Steve said about the number same player cards on a sheet. Therefore, if the card is on there more than once the number of plates would of course be more.

You mentioned you were a hack when it came to the printing process, but as you can see I haven't even reached the hack level.

Lol.

My belief is if someone ever says they know everything then they certainly can't know anything.