Quick update here now that @BenjaminBe has graciously sent some very high res scans.
Overall, I think my opinion still stands as the following on these sheets:
- They were printed using offset printing that is consistent with the printers used to print real cards from the same era
- They are clearly printed with original digital files via offset printing.
- Unfortunately offset printing does not leave any decipherable metadata dots like laser / inkjet printers so we don’t have anything to confirm dates like we do on the Playtest cards.
Some more details below:
- I got a 1600 DPI scan of a Snap Bulba from a friend whose copy is in a BGS slab.
- This means that the “real” copy looks a tad more blurry than the uncut sheet scans due to the additional slab plastic + inner sleeve BGS uses for its slabs.
First of all I superimposed a scan of the real Snap bulba on top of the sheet’s. From here you can see that rosette patterns have the same clustering and sizing. This means they were printed on similar equipment.
Next we check the black layer. The text and symbols should be clear, vector-based output without “feathering” from the rosettes. This indicates they were printed on a separate plate via offset printing and from a digital file. If this were a photocopy the rosettes would bleed into them.
This separation of CMYK plates is most evident in the Snap set symbol. Here is the real Snap vs. the uncut sheet’s
Real card
Uncut sheet
You can see that the uncut sheet has some alignment issues between the 4 plates. The black and yellow layers are misaligned and shifted slightly to the left & right, causing “pure” yellow to show on the left side’s white area and some of the white to extend beyond the camera icon on the right. This is also evident when we look at other symbols printed
Real Card
Uncut sheet
This is a good sign since it confirms that these aren’t just photocopies of actual Snap cards, but are direct prints from the digital printing files.
I’ve checked the other sheets and they all exhibit similar signs. Unfortunately I don’t have ultra-high res scans of other snaps or Fan club karps to compare to.
Again, nothing tells us when these were printed since offset prints don’t leave timestamp metadata that we know of. This just confirms how they were printed, and they were printed in a very similar, if not identical fashion to real cards.