Wednesday 6 October 2021

It's very draughty

Unsigned, but definitely McGill cards, at first glance they appear to be the same ... but look closer and the differences begin to become apparent.


Overall the colours are different, the text uses different fonts, and there are little detail variations such as the spots in the hatband and the stones outlined on the ground. The more you look the more you see. One is a copy of the other, not an exact copy but not far off. 

Here are the reverse of the cards:


One is very obviously published by Joseph Asher & Co., printed in Belgium (which is slightly unusual) and is numbered A 86. However, the other card is also numbered A 86 but there are no publisher details and is printed in Holland. It is not unusual to find Asher cards which have been printed without publisher details and with only the printing origin and the card number, many of their cards were printed in Holland.

Were these both published by Joseph Asher? My gut reaction is that they were but I can't explain why the image is different on each card. Perhaps I'm wrong and one is a particularly good copy of the Joseph Asher original.

Another possible cause for the differences may be due to the printing processes used by different print companies.

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