Piedmont Factory 42 color question

Hey guys,

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before to any length, and if it's common knowledge that I haven't stumbled upon yet then please forgive me, but...

Have you ever noticed that the blue ink used to print the Piedmont Factory 42's is usually a much lighter blue than the other factories? I notice it every time I see one, almost to the point where I can tell it's a Factory 42 just by the color. I'm pretty sure that I have seen one that was the same darker blue as the other factories, so I don't think it is true with every one of them, but I only remember one out of all of them that I have seen. Any thoughts on this, or am I nuts?

Thanks a lot,

AndyH

Andy, you are correct - the T206 Piedmont Factory 42's are a lighter shade of blue. Another easy way to distinguish these in small scans is that the factory line is longer than the factory 25's as well. These facts helped me notice an SGC 30 Griffith Batting was a Factory 42 instead of a factory 25 from a small scan on eBay - which I won.

I never noticed the line length, but have definitely noticed the color difference, which is why I thought I had a chance of snagging that Griffith at a decent price. Not to be.

I kinda figured I wasn't the only person to notice the color variance. Have you guys ever seen one that is the same darker blue color as other Piedmonts? I swear I saw one once. Any ideas why it is a different color? Did the factories have to get the ink from different suppliers and Factory 42 just didn't get the right matching color?

The factories were definitely in different locations, which probably accounts for the different shades of blue ink (either the ink or the printing process itself probably had something to do with this). With cards being less plentiful from Factory 42, maybe it was a much smaller factory and didn't have the best equipment?

Here is a scan of each factory. In these, you can tell the color difference and the size of the factory lines.

Nice card there Scott! Where'd ya pick that one up at???

Got that one from a board member - and a nice guy at that! Hope he enjoys his card from the trade as well!

Here are the two examples I once had.

Joe - the bottom one seems darker, like a Fact. 25 back. I am still kicking myself over missing out on your Cobb Red Portrait!

Here's another Pied. Fact. 42 I was able to win on eBay b/c the scan was so small you couldn't read the Factory Number. Again, I went by the Factory line being much longer than the Fact. 25.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330215075938&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=014