Saturday, December 7, 2019

It's Different - Z573 Sumo Wrestling Magazine Cards

I am a set completionist and love collecting and cataloguing sumo menko and cards.  It is my passion and goal to continue to build the most comprehensive checklist of Japanese Sumo Menko and Cards out there.  Part of doing that is chasing set variations and trying to decipher why the same set was made differently across its production run.  Much like today's parallel and short-printed cards, variations can be a fun chase to completing master sets.  I recently picked up this Z573 set that was issued inside an unknown magazine in 1957.  Or at least I think it was.....actually before a few weeks ago I would have been dead certain.  Now, I don't know.  The original sheet I had found years and years ago was printed with blue ink.  It looked like the numerous other sets from the 1950s and 1960s that were issued in magazines as free giveaways to entice kids to buy the magazines.  Then I stumbled across this version that was printed with brown ink.  Huh....not something that I have ever seen before with magazine issues.  The print run would have been a day or two on these magazines and then shipped out.  Changing colors midstream would have been odd.  So now it is making me question what I have here.  Regardless, I am now able to add a new type to the Z573 set.  Introducing the Z573-2: 1957 Zashi Type 2 - Brown Ink on Front.

Z573-2: 1957 Zashi Type 2 - Brown Ink on Front
 
 
Z573-1: 1957 Zashi Type 1 - Blue Ink on Front
 
 
Any thoughts?  Have a great weekend everyone!


8 comments:

  1. I doubt it's relevant, but they look sort of like printing plates, even though they aren't.

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    1. They kind of do. I thought that maybe the brown ones might have been sun faded, but the coloring is too uniform. Not quite sure what they are.

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  2. I won't even begin to try and answer your question... but I'm stoked that you've made a new discovery among sumo wrestling cards. Congratulations buddy!

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    1. Thanks! It definitely is nice to add a new type to this set. Although I doubt there is anyone on the planet that would really care. Ha....just not enough sumo wrestling card collectors out there.

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  3. Hmmmm...interesting question. Its true that it would be odd for a magazine to print them using two different colors, though perhaps they used the same photos for different issues, or two different magazines included them?

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    1. Maybe so. It could have been for several different magazines during this time. Hadn't thought about that.

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  4. Wow, nice discovery there! Could the cards have been printed on different presses, or even at different facilities?

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    1. Possibly. That is most likely the case. Same requirement for printing, but different ink supplies.

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