1st Edition Base Stamped Backs Misprint

[smpratte]

I was going through my 1st Edition Base binder and noticed my Pikachu had the back stamp misprint. These were believed to be from the ink drying on the sheets while stacked. They are not the norm and significantly rarer. I have a few of these on other 1st Base cards, mostly on energies, and was curious how people perceive them?

Here are some photos for reference, the misprint stamp is on the right middle back of the card:

[swarm]

That’s cool, never seen that before.

[professoroakcali]

I’ve often speculated that for every “grey stamp” there is probably a corresponding “back stamped” card out there.

The full contoured back stamps are cool. They are not as talked about.

[PokemonRadar]

i forget if it was tca or gary from where i first saw these. I think they are cool but possible easy to replicate? it is closer to the “ink spot/blot” errors than the other legitimate printing errors in my opinion, but close to crossing over that line. I think it should add some value, maybe 10%-15%

[raichuforyou]

Some people speculate this is how we got the grey stamps. Whether there’s any truth to that I don’t know.

[PokemonRadar]

i like that theory @raichuforyou

[thane]

@PokemonRadar

i forget if it was tca or gary from where i first saw these. I think they are cool but possible easy to replicate? it is closer to the “ink spot/blot” errors than the other legitimate printing errors in my opinion, but close to crossing over that line. I think it should add some value, maybe 10%-15%

Gem Mint has one at 13:33

The Ultimate Binder

[somepokemonguy]

I like that theory about the back stamp corresponding to grey stamps lol but most of the grey stamps I’ve seen are pretty uniform and I think if they were a result of the sheets touching while stacked then the grey stamps would be a bit more blotchy. I also have the artistic skills of a third grader so I may not be the best person to formulate ink/paint conspiracy theories.

[raichuforyou]

@PokemonRadar

i like that theory @raichuforyou

It’s an interesting theory but if true we should see some back stamps that correspond with the placement on energy cards and trainer cards. Also, if this is the case we should be able to observe back stamps on holo cards since we have grey stamp holos. Furthermore, grey stamp cards should (almost) all feature back stamps if this is true.
More research might reveal the truth down the line. I personally, don’t have any way to check first hand.

[1by1collector]

had about 15 of these graded psa 9. didn’t/don’t think much of them, sold them at no premium

[smpratte]

@1by1collector

had about 15 of these graded psa 9. didn’t/don’t think much of them, sold them at no premium

Could you share any photos of them?

[oldskoolpokemon]

That Pikachu looks Familiar…
Either that, or you have 2 of those back-stamped Pikachu Cards! Haha

I’m not big into error collecting myself. Personally, I’ve never valued those back-stamped 1st Base Cards anymore than normal 1st Ed. Base Cards. However, you’re starting to make me think I should sort through my Inventory to see if I have anymore!

[shizzlemetimbers]

Graded about a dozen or so back stamp errors and managed to get one 10.

link

[1by1collector]

@smpratte

@1by1collector

had about 15 of these graded psa 9. didn’t/don’t think much of them, sold them at no premium

Could you share any photos of them?

No, unfortunately, this was about 3 years ago. I bought a majority of them from @pokemonrevolution I doubt he even noticed they were on there.

[pokemoncardproject]

I recently found one of these on my 1st edition ghastly. It is currently at PSA but I will post a picture once its back.

[papafrankgod]

Nice find Scott!

[quuador]

They are also mentioned in my 1st edition stamp variations article. To quote the relevant parts (including the Grey stamp above it):

@quuador

Thick Grey stamp:

When you look at this stamp from a distant, the stamp appears grey instead of the usual black. Zoomed in as above however, it seems as if parts of the stamp are simply not printed properly. There are both Thin and Thick Grey stamps. The Thick Grey stamps, like the one above, recently got a new theory as to what might have caused them.

In the past, a lot of people thought the Thick, Thin and Grey stamps were just the printer pressing down more or less, or they might almost have run out of ink. @pokemonrevolution recently presented a new and likely theory for these Grey Thick stamps, which I will quote here:

@pokemonrevolution

Grey stamped 1st Edition Base set cards for the most part have commonly been considered to exist because of either

A) The ink was low when they were stamped

B) The stamp was not pressed down with enough force to create a nice dark color.

I believe the actual reason behind them is the following. First off I have opened a 1st Edition Base Box which contained many of these grey stamped cards. Majority of the cards had the normal black stamps, however a percent were grey. Coming from the same box I noticed many had various shades of grey to them. Some were very light and grey, others were slightly grey, and some were in the middle. Almost all of the cards from this box were sent to PSA to be graded.

Recently I was looking through some of these cards when I noticed this. See picture link below.

link

This was found on the back of a Professor Oak Trainer card. It was the first one I found, not to mention the most noticeable. It seems the stamp from the card behind it did not completely dry causing some of its stamp to smudge on the back of this one. I continued looking through my cards and noticed that MANY of the trainers have very faint 1st ed stamp smudges on the backs of them as well, in roughly the exact same spot. See link below

link

I then looked through my basic Pokemon common and uncommon cards. Many of these also had the faint remains of a 1st Edition stamp in the spot directly behind where the stamp would be on those cards. See link below.

link

I believe this is what could have caused the grey stamps we see today. They were stamped and did not have enough time to completely dry as they were stacked on each other. Depending on where they were in the pack and how much force was against of the card could cause how much ink came off.

This could very well be the reason we see various shades of the grey stamps. On the trainer cards they all are directly under the “P” in Pokemon at the bottom of the card. For the actual Pokemon species cards they are towards the right of the Pokeball.

Has anyone else noticed these faint 1st ed stamps on the backs of their cards?

Source

So Thick Grey stamps are most likely created when printing sheets were placed on top of each other, before the 1st edition symbols had enough time to dry. This caused part of the ink to stick to the back of the other sheet, causing not only Thick Grey stamps, but also the following variation:

Black Back Imprinted stamp:

Now we’re going from the front to the back of the card. On some Thick 1st edition cards you may find a mirrored imprint of a 1st edition symbol right of the Pokéball (imprints from Pokémon 1st edition stamps), in the bottom-right corner (imprints from Trainer 1st edition stamps), or in the top-left corner (imprints from Energy 1st edition stamps).

White Back Imprinted stamp:

Just like the Black Imprinted stamps, it’s also possible to find white imprinted stamps. I’m not sure how these are formed. At first I thought the ink acted similar as a glue, and when the stacks of sheets are separated again, the ink on the back of the card just got removed, exposing the white of the cardboard itself. However, in the white back stamped Pikachu I own I see no evidence of this whatsoever. There is no damage at the stamp when looking at it from multiple angles.
In this picture some more white back stamps can be found on some Energies, owned by @shizzlemetimbers .

Thin Grey stamp:

…

I personally have three Red Cheeks Base Set Pikachus like this (never seen a Yellow Cheeks Base Set Pikachu with back imprinted stamp btw). One with an imprint similar as the one shown by Scott; one less visible; and one white one. The first two are shown in my Base Set Pikachu variations article (see sections English Shadowless 1st edition Red Cheeks with 1st edition Black stamp imprint on the back and English Shadowless 1st edition Red Cheeks with 1st edition White stamp imprint on the back).

Greetz,
Quuador

[somepokemonguy]

@quuador that close up picture of the grey stamp is very useful. Not nearly as uniform and smooth as I thought based on my experience of looking at grey stamps from a distance. You can see areas where there is no ink at all in the area surrounding the 1. This makes the stacking theory much more credible, never knew they looked like that up close. I am now a grey stamp as a result of stacking conspiracy theorist.

[pokemonrevolution]

@1by1collector

@smpratte

Could you share any photos of them?

No, unfortunately, this was about 3 years ago. I bought a majority of them from @pokemonrevolution I doubt he even noticed they were on there.

They came from a booster box I opened. There were a lot more from that box but I didn’t sell them at a premium. I still have some.

[odysseycards]

Few variations of it on my cards. The two lighter stamps are both on a Machop and the more defined stamp is on a Porygon. Are we calling this the “Tramp Stamp” error?