Off Set Printing Error

1977 Boston $1.00. Very crisp. The back is on the front.

 

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Back to front offsets are my favorite. Here is one of mine. I am guessing yours and mine are probably the third or fourth offset printed. Not very dark, but dark enough to bee cool.

 

Yes they are very nice.

 

I tend to be drawn to these over some other errors, like gutter folds.
Here's mine.

 

Yes it is. Are you able to explain how this happens ?

 

As I understand it the press does not feed in the paper. This causes the ink to be placed on the plate instead of the sheet. When the next sheet is fed into the press, the ink on the plate is transferred to the sheet. This places the ink on the wrong side of the sheet.

If you can explain it better, please do so.

 

Sounds good. I believe the presses use huge drums. One drum has the intaglio engraved plates attached to it and the other drum applies the pressure to the sheet as it passes between the drums. Intaglio printing requires lots of pressure. When a sheet is mis-fed, gets folded or doesn’t get fed at all, then the inked drum, that holds the plates presses directly on to the pressure drum and leaves ink on the pressure drum....which gets applied to the wrong side of the sheet, getting fainter and fainter during each revolution.

 

I have my paper and I add to it from time to time. I'm just not as advanced as you are. Thanks for the more detailed run down on Printing.

 

The only problem I see there is that a front or back plate is separate from whatever is being printed, so how would your scenario work?

 

It ends up on the other side of the sheet. A side it was not intended for.

 

Still not sure that works as an explanation, but what do I know? Each side printed goes to a drying room and then back for the next printing, so how would ink stay wet on a plate long enough to transfer?

 

Maybe it’s my wording. Here’s the explanation from page 144 of Fred Bart’s Error guide.

 

Thank you. That is a bit easier to understand.

 

I couldn't have explained it any better lol

 

Okay, so if I understand what the article is saying, currency is printed one side at a time, so during the printing of whatever side plates are in the press, the other side is blank. Okay? So after the sheets are dried and then put through the plates for the opposite side, it prints OVER the accidental print the impression cylinder had printed. Do I have that correct?

 

Ran across this article Paper Money Errors: The Offset Printing
By Benjamin C. Simpson, YN
"Offset printings are roughly analogous to clashed dies for coins. When the impression cylinder is mistakenly rolled over a wet printing plate without a sheet of notes intervening, the ink design on the plate is transferred to the impression cylinder itself. This blunder causes the subsequent sheets of notes to be printed with its usual design on one face (transferred from the plate) and a mirror image of that design on the other face (erroneously transferred from the impression cylinder). A reflection has been produced on the opposite side of the note. On all small-size U.S. currency, there are multiple printing stages. Offset errors most commonly occur in the first printing, when most major design elements are produced."
I think this is a more succinct explanation of what happens.

 

When the impression cylinder has deteriorated or is damaged and can not press against the paper being printed you get what is called a "board break". Basically works similar to a cud on a coin. The impression cylinder does not place pressure on the paper in certain areas against the printing cylinder and the ink in not transferred to the paper. Here are some examples:


Not the same $20 bill

 

Yes

 

All the currency I see here is so cool, I hope to find one of these some day

 

I think your chances of finding one in the wild is very slim. If you want one, go to a show (whenever that occurs again) or search on eBay. If you find one on eBay that you like make sure they take offers and start at half or less than the asking price, then haggle from there. Most "Buy Now" prices (to me) are excessively overpriced.