Mis-cut press plates?

[Drewk86a]

I see an auction for a complete set of four Kovalchuk press plates with a reasonable price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/02-03-Ilya-Kovalchuk-Pacific-Atomic-Hockey-Insert-4-Card-Press-Plates-1-1-1-of-1-/330872125233?pt=US_Hockey_Trading_Cards&hash=item4 d0983f731

However, looking at the photos it seems as if some of the plates have been mis-cut. The "Power Converters" print is on the right on two of the plates and on the left for the other two plates. Just doesn't look right to me.

Would the mis-cutting be enough for you to pass on it, if it were for your PC?

[fleemur12]

They are not mis-cut. They look off-center b/c Pacific used a method of printing called "offset printing". Printing techniques are pretty involved, so bear with me.

Printing plates are mounted onto round drums. These drums spin in one direction and are covered in one of four colors of ink. The parts of the plate that contain the image of the card pick up the ink. The ink image is transferred to another spinning drum, this one covered in a rubber sheet (blanket). The ink image on the blanket is transferred onto a long sheet of paper (the card) repeatedly as the rolling drum advances the sheet. This process is repeated four times total (black, magenta, yellow and cyan) with the printed sheet being refed each time the color is changed. After all four colors are deposited one on top of another, you end up with a color card.

The images and text look shifted because #1) they are wrapped around a circular cylinder during printing and #2)only two colors of ink are needed on the left-hand side of this particular card. Since the "Power Converters" text is on the left-hand portion of the card and only contains black and cyan ink, only the black and cyan plates contain the lettering on the left-hand side. The magenta and yellow plates are blank in this area. Since the images of the plates are wrapped into a connected tube, the blank area to the right of the image on the magenta and yellow plates ends up lining up with the written, left handed section of the card and does not deposit any magenta or yellow ink on that part of the card.