T206 Claude Ritchey & The Doves

[tedzan]

My 4 cards of Ritchey (three 150 Series and an EPDG) do not show even a hint of the the "dove's sky". Your theory,
Jamie, of multiple plates of a given T206 Subject, I think has a lot of merit.

Another thought I might add.....American Litho. printed 1000's of Ritchey's during the 150 series press runs in 1909.
As these plates wore, they replaced them with new plates somewhere along this process as they extended Ritchey
into the 350 series press runs in 1910. These new plates included the "dove's sky".




TED Z

[Matt]

Ted - I can see faint hints of it in both your Piedmont and your SC.

[Abravefan11]

Jamie-

I think a major point you and I differ on right now is that you believe there two be two cards. One with Dove and one without.

I think they all would have Doves had they been printed with the same quality. It's the poor quality that keeps the Dove from showing. Not the absence of a Dove on the stone.

Does that make sense?

Ted-

Your Sweet Caporal is beginning to show the Dove though it is very faint. Notice the little bits of dark blue around Ritchey's bat and head and a little patch just off center in the top.

Also look at how the dark green runs slightly higher on that card compared to the other three.

This is the main point that I have been trying to make. The dark clouds that produce the Dove are proportional with the dark green on the bottom of the cards. The higher the dark green ink carries up the card, the more dark blue in the sky.

I know nothing of the printing process but it seems as though the ink was applied from the bottom to the top and wasn't sufficient on the earlier cards. It ran out early thus not printing the entire image of the clouds. Once corrected through whatever change the entire image printed more consistently.

Look at the difference in how high the dark green carries on these examples in relation to how dark the clouds are.



After looking at a lot of Ritchey's I have never seen one with dark green far up the bottom with no Dove. And I have never seen a Dove with the dark green lower on the card. But it is T206 and it could be out there.

[Brian Weisner]

Hi Guys,
I thought I was the only one who cared about Ritchey.... I remember starting a thread just like this one a few years ago... I'll pull out my Ritchey's tonight and post them over the weekend.
Be well Brian

[jimonym]

Hi Tim.

That does make sense. I don't know that you're right, and I don't know that I'm right. Nor do I know if you're wrong, or if I am. That's part of what makes T206s interesting.

I do think though that if the Ritchey variations were due only to Dark Blue ink levels that we'd see some kind of similar variations in the cards that came from the same sheet. Not the occasional card with slightly more or less blue, but a lot of examples of a handful of other T206s that have a lot of gradation, as we see with Ritchey. It would be interesting, for myriad reasons, if anyone could point to others.

Also, if we assume that Ritchey was printed in vertical columns, then it seems weird to me, although maybe it could be possible, that the Dark Blue ink would show such fluctuations from the bottom of the card to the top, over and over across the surface of the larger printing plate. I could see maybe the top card, or top couple, in a column not getting inked properly, but not the entire column of cards. And even if it was an ink distribution problem, wouldn't there be Ritchey cards with no dark green grass (meaning that no Dark Blue ink at all reached the paper)?

Hope that's clear. Man, it's hard to use words to describe pictures.

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by jimonym

And even if it was an ink distribution problem, wouldn't there be Ritchey cards with no dark green grass (meaning that no Dark Blue ink at all reached the paper)?

There could be some Ritchey's that never received the Dark Green (or Dark Blue) print run, though I've never seen one. I don't think the variations are because of an absence, but rather a lighter or heavier application of the color.

After posting about how the heavier color moves from the bottom to the top of the card last night and giving it a lot of thought I'm now wondering if it's just a resistance issue.

If the ink in the T206 process took the path of least resistance and there was a varying amount of ink used in the application, a color such as the dark green (or dark blue) would show up always on the area meant for the heaviest amount of ink, and less often for the area meant for the least amount of that color.

I haven't had the chance to look at as many examples of other T206's as I have the Ritchey but I think there are other cards that have variances but just not to the degree of the Ritchey, or with a contrast as noticeable as the Dove.

Here are a couple of Marquard Hands At Thighs that have a similar background to Ritchey with a noticeable difference in the amount of dark green (or dark blue) ink. Again not as big a variance as Ritchey.

[ethicsprof]

Interesting work,Tim.

Looking back at your initial post, I do think that your point that the
Ritchey dove card is not a definitive variation stands unswervingly.
Your point that 'in the end I think it's simply a matter of print quality,'
also is strong, although the definition of print quality may not be so simple now and may need to be fleshed out in response to the various
'speculations'/'theories' regarding multiple plates, new plates, ink distribution, resistance, etc. Admittedly, the corroborative data for these 'speculations'/
'theories' is still very much fluid and in process and very difficult to use for
fleshing out. Moving from the speculative/anecdotal to corroborative data may well require that most efficacious Zanidakean tool of the trade: survey.

best,

barry

[ethicsprof]

Interesting work,Tim.

Looking back at your initial post, I do think that your point that the
Ritchey dove card is not a definitive variation stands unswervingly.
Your point that 'in the end I think it's simply a matter of print quality,'
also is strong, although the definition of print quality may not be so simple now and may need to be fleshed out in response to the various
'speculations'/'theories' regarding multiple plates, new plates, ink distribution, resistance, etc. Admittedly, the corroborative data for these 'speculations'/
'theories' is still very much fluid and in process and very difficult to use for
fleshing out. Moving from the speculative/anecdotal to corroborative data may well require that most efficacious Zanidakean tool of the trade: survey.

best,

barry