Red to Orange in c. 1910 T and E cards.

[G1911]

The most common "misprint" seen in these cards is cards that should be red, but appear orange. Sometimes, if they picture a baseball HOFer, they sell for huge premiums.

However, they are, at least in the vast majority of cases, not misprints at all. They didn't leave the factory that way. Exposure and some storage conditions will fade the red ink to appear orange, with little or no effect on the other colors. The red ink, for a reason I am sure Steve or someone else is better able to explain, is very susceptible to fading. It is also the easiest to doctor, but I would rather not, for the obvious reasons, delve into exactly how one can do this in a lot less time than using the sun.

Since this stemmed from an E77 Wolgast, I will use boxing examples here, beginning with it as an illustration of the difference. Note that one is obviously red, and one is obviously orange in the background. You can also see (I hope, I'm capped to ~200KB pictures max here), that the red in his skin toning is lighter on the orange example. Note the yellow ink layer's slight misalignment in the background on both, more extreme in the red card. Differences in colors other than red are essentially non-existent. The black is ever so slightly darker on the orange "misprint", the blue slightly darker on the red card.

[G1911]

Next, let's use this T218 Jimmy Gardner, which I bought, I don't know, 8 years ago hoping it was a cool misprint. It's not.

Both these cards Mecca 649's. Gardner should have a red drapery background. Gardner makes for a very good example in particular, because his correct card also has an orange area. Next to the "13" sign on the far right, the gap between it and the white border isn't red on our bottom card, it's orange. It's like that on every example with proper registration.

Now, Gardner "misprint" is not a real one, or a doctored card. It's just faded from exposure. The top corners remain some of their original red, where the card was secured into one of those binders popular at the time, where a picture was pushed in and secured by the corners. That part of the card wasn't as exposed, and so did not lose all of it's original color. Note that the orange card has the rest of the drapery faded to the exact same shade of orange as the gap next to the "13" sign. The fading from red orange makes it exactly match the orange coloring used on these cards. So here's a clear example of how it works, how these cards naturally fade into orange from their environment.

[G1911]

Like Gardner, here's a Cross. The corner was just left exposed at some point, and natural fading resulted. Obviously this card didn't leave the factory this way, and it's not a misprint.

[G1911]

Here's a Donovan of Today. The card on the right is correct, with a vibrant red belt. The card on the left has an orange belt. The left card also has a lightened copy of the pinkish dot above the hill at left, and the slight spots of pink in the crowd (none are red) are a bit less clear too. I got this one probably 15 years ago hoping it was a cool misprint. Unlike Gardner and Cross, the card itself doesn't make obvious that it didn't leave the factory this way. It's theoretically possible it did, but is it likely? No. It's just the color of ink that doesn't survive as well as the others and is the easiest to modify, either by natural storage conditions or by crook. It's like making a 50's to 70's Topps card go from green to blue; easy to do, oft happens naturally, and easy to do by doctoring. Note that it's usually these "misprints" that are sold as such - the ones that are the easiest to make and happen naturally. Finding non-proof or scrap cards missing other colors is extremely rare for T cards - because those other ones don't change color so easily. It's possible this card is a genuine misprint. But it sure isn't likely that this is the case.

[G1911]

Here's a cooler one; the T220 Maher (corrected variation, with properly colored ropes and without the solid backdrop layer). The card on the left has the fainter pink in the stripes on his flag belt, and an orange backdrop. The reddish given to skin tone is also a much fainter pink, but the other colors remain bold and strong. Is this a rare, true misprint? Maybe. But it probably isn't.

Based on the tiny prices paid and how I acquired these cards, with the sellers not even notating the color differences, none of these are likely to be intentionally doctored cards. They are just the affects of a century of non ideal storage. It happens in T cards, red fades to orange even without malevolence. But when it's a Cobb with an orange background being sold for big bucks, one should remember that it just so happens to be the color issue that happens over time naturally AND is easy to doctor. I've seen it done and done it myself on non-sport test T cards; producing red to orange is not difficult. No wonder there are so many of those Cobb's.

[Pat R]

Good explanation on the fading red Greg. Like you on a rare occasion I see an example that is possibly a mis-print/variation but I don't trust any of them enough to ever pay a premium.
Here are a few T206's that have fading.

This Beckley was tacked to something with another card tacked over top of the right hand corner
Beckley.jpg

Pickering that had some kind of frame around it
Pickering.jpg

and a Beaumont with an outline of a corner tab
Beumont Sun corner tab.jpg