ASM Printing Plate on ebay

[BlowUpTheMoon]

There are indeed four plates but the one in the auction is the black plate. The most desirable of the four plates. It would sell for a premium far above what the other three plates would sell for.

Indeed, the black plate is one of a kind. The other three plates pale in comparison.

 

 

Aren't multiple CMYK plates made as the plates wear down after while?

[Dr. Balls]

There are indeed four plates but the one in the auction is the black plate. The most desirable of the four plates. It would sell for a premium far above what the other three plates would sell for.

Indeed, the black plate is one of a kind. The other three plates pale in comparison.

 

 

Aren't multiple CMYK plates made as the plates wear down after while?

 

Yes - depending on the size of the run. For #252, I'm sure it was highly ordered, and they probably had to switch out plates at some point at least once. A plate back in the olden days probably had 100,000-200,000 impressions in it's life? So whatever that run was, they probably had X amount of extra plates divided by how many covers they were able to gang up on one plate.

[DiceX]

There are indeed four plates but the one in the auction is the black plate. The most desirable of the four plates. It would sell for a premium far above what the other three plates would sell for.

Indeed, the black plate is one of a kind. The other three plates pale in comparison.

 

 

Aren't multiple CMYK plates made as the plates wear down after while?

 

There were two sets of each letterpress plate made so there's possibly another one out there, though 99.9% of the printing plates were recycled so the odds of both of them being in collections is pretty slim, IMO.

If they are, most likely the backup plate wasn't used because these rarely had to be replaced. This one was actually used to print the books.

 

 

[DiceX]

There are indeed four plates but the one in the auction is the black plate. The most desirable of the four plates. It would sell for a premium far above what the other three plates would sell for.

Indeed, the black plate is one of a kind. The other three plates pale in comparison.

 

 

Aren't multiple CMYK plates made as the plates wear down after while?

 

Yes - depending on the size of the run. For #252, I'm sure it was highly ordered, and they probably had to switch out plates at some point at least once. A plate back in the olden days probably had 100,000-200,000 impressions in it's life? So whatever that run was, they probably had X amount of extra plates divided by how many covers they were able to gang up on one plate.

 

Doc, with all due respect, these plates are not what you're familiar with. They're in no way comparable to plates made today.

 

 

[Dr. Balls]

There are indeed four plates but the one in the auction is the black plate. The most desirable of the four plates. It would sell for a premium far above what the other three plates would sell for.

Indeed, the black plate is one of a kind. The other three plates pale in comparison.

 

 

Aren't multiple CMYK plates made as the plates wear down after while?

 

Yes - depending on the size of the run. For #252, I'm sure it was highly ordered, and they probably had to switch out plates at some point at least once. A plate back in the olden days probably had 100,000-200,000 impressions in it's life? So whatever that run was, they probably had X amount of extra plates divided by how many covers they were able to gang up on one plate.

 

Doc, with all due respect, these plates are not what you're familiar with. They're in no way comparable to plates made today.

 

 

Ahhh, gotcha - I missed the part where you stated it was a letterpress plate. The old metal plates must hold up for more impressions? I imagine the newer plate material (from the mid-90's up) wasn't as good and the DTP stuff (that ran through the imagesetters) was less so.

[markseifert]

Doc, with all due respect, these plates are not what you're familiar with. They're in no way comparable to plates made today.

 

 

Do you know of any good sources of info on 1930s-40s era printing processes? I've been picking up old trade magazines here and there, putting together who was printing what in that era, etc, but would love to learn more.

[DiceX]

There are indeed four plates but the one in the auction is the black plate. The most desirable of the four plates. It would sell for a premium far above what the other three plates would sell for.

Indeed, the black plate is one of a kind. The other three plates pale in comparison.

 

 

Aren't multiple CMYK plates made as the plates wear down after while?

 

Yes - depending on the size of the run. For #252, I'm sure it was highly ordered, and they probably had to switch out plates at some point at least once. A plate back in the olden days probably had 100,000-200,000 impressions in it's life? So whatever that run was, they probably had X amount of extra plates divided by how many covers they were able to gang up on one plate.

 

Doc, with all due respect, these plates are not what you're familiar with. They're in no way comparable to plates made today.

 

 

The old metal plates must hold up for more impressions? The newer plate material (from the mid-90's up) wasn't as good and the DTP stuff (that ran through the imagesetters) was less so.

 

Old letterpress plates would print 5-10 million impressions easy. They're nothing like the plates we use today. They're almost 1/4" thick and what you're seeing is not "cut," that's the actual plate. After the plate was made it was bent in a curve to fit onto the cylinder. It has grooves cut into the back of the plate and the press cylinder had teeth that would grab and hold the plate.

 

Note that the plate is wrong-reading because there was no blanket. It printed directly onto the paper.

 

 

[Dr. Balls]

There are indeed four plates but the one in the auction is the black plate. The most desirable of the four plates. It would sell for a premium far above what the other three plates would sell for.

Indeed, the black plate is one of a kind. The other three plates pale in comparison.

 

 

Aren't multiple CMYK plates made as the plates wear down after while?

 

Yes - depending on the size of the run. For #252, I'm sure it was highly ordered, and they probably had to switch out plates at some point at least once. A plate back in the olden days probably had 100,000-200,000 impressions in it's life? So whatever that run was, they probably had X amount of extra plates divided by how many covers they were able to gang up on one plate.

 

Doc, with all due respect, these plates are not what you're familiar with. They're in no way comparable to plates made today.

 

 

The old metal plates must hold up for more impressions? The newer plate material (from the mid-90's up) wasn't as good and the DTP stuff (that ran through the imagesetters) was less so.

 

Old letterpress plates would print 5-10 million impressions easy. They're nothing like the plates we use today. They're almost 1/4" thick and what you're seeing is not "cut," that's the actual plate. After the plate was made it was bent in a curve to fit onto the cylinder. It has grooves cut into the back of the plate and the press cylinder had teeth that would grab and hold the plate.

 

Note that the plate is wrong-reading because there was no blanket. It printed directly onto the paper.

 

 

Interesting and informative. I guess that is why on certain books you can see faint impressions of the images pressed into the paper on the cover.

[DiceX]

Oh yes. Not doubt. The printing area is raised like almost 1/8" thicker than the non-image area. It's very much like a rubber stamp, except it's nickle plated lead.

 

 

[Dr. Balls]

Oh yes. Not doubt. The printing area is raised like almost 1/8" thicker than the non-image area. It's very much like a rubber stamp, except it's nickle plated lead.

 

 

The old process was so much cooler than how it works/worked for modern stuff.

[DiceX]

I have some stuff that illustrates the process that I'll post this weekend. (IF I can find it. )

 

 

[MatterEaterLad]

Dr. Balls should weigh in as well since we're both designers, but I'm certain you can make a printing plate from a high-res scan these days, so there's no way of knowing if that was THE printing plate or something that someone with access to a litho/prepress place made more recently.

 

 

 

Either way, priced way too high.

 

+1

 

I know a couple printers that can still burn plates. I could make a counterfeit for around $50 maybe? Cost of film and burning a plate? Mine would still have the gripper edge on it, too.

 

I can still make plates, but the ones in the auction are lead letterpress plates. I doubt anyone in the US can still make those, though I could be wrong.

 

 

That's not a lead letterpress plate. You wouldn't use that kind of plate on a big web press. They'd use magnesium/copper, which the plate in the auction probably is.

 

I think the term "plate" is being given too much consideration in that the person burning the plate probably burned dozens. This isn't like the US Treasury in any way.

 

And an old community newspaper with old litho gear could still make one of those plates from a scan.

 

Unless there's a traceable provenance on that sucker... caveat emptor, lads.

[Dr. Balls]

I have some stuff that illustrates the process that I'll post this weekend. (IF I can find it. )

 

 

I'd love to see that stuff! I'm gonna watch this topic for your updates.

[DiceX]

Dr. Balls should weigh in as well since we're both designers, but I'm certain you can make a printing plate from a high-res scan these days, so there's no way of knowing if that was THE printing plate or something that someone with access to a litho/prepress place made more recently.

 

 

 

Either way, priced way too high.

 

+1

 

I know a couple printers that can still burn plates. I could make a counterfeit for around $50 maybe? Cost of film and burning a plate? Mine would still have the gripper edge on it, too.

 

I can still make plates, but the ones in the auction are lead letterpress plates. I doubt anyone in the US can still make those, though I could be wrong.

 

 

That's not a lead letterpress plate. You wouldn't use that kind of plate on a big web press. They'd use magnesium/copper, which the plate in the auction probably is.

 

I think the term "plate" is being given too much consideration in that the person burning the plate probably burned dozens. This isn't like the US Treasury in any way.

 

And an old community newspaper with old litho gear could still make one of those plates from a scan.

 

Unless there's a traceable provenance on that sucker... caveat emptor, lads.

 

Yeah, I don't know what they can still do at newspapers. I figured they were using litho plates. I'm clueless to their process.

 

 

[Jimmy Linguini]

Im going to take a picture of my old GEO in storage and see if the guy will trade.

[Silver Surfer]

Wouldn't a plate like this be easy to recreate if people in the know decided to make fake copies?

[DiceX]

Wouldn't a plate like this be easy to recreate if people in the know decided to make fake copies?

 

There's a lot of "production" items on eBay that are fake. That's for sure.

 

 

[MatterEaterLad]

I need to go dumpster diving at more comic printers...

[kaholo1256]

5 offers on the thing already?

 

Wow.

 

Hell yeah, I offered him a one of a kind X-Men #1 Jim Lee variant from the 90's...hasn't replied back though....

[ChrisInBaltimore]

Love the stuff I learn on these boards