Printing Plates?

[zubrato]

have a chance to buy some old printing plates and was wondering what I could expect in terms of alloy
seller says theyre lead underneath the copper coating.

i can see the edges are a little scuffed/dented, so I assume it' softer than zinc.

here's a pic



I'm wondering, why copper coat it if it is hard lead? zinc or lead will oxidize less than copper if it's to be used for print, no?

thanks in advance!

[Outpost75]

Those look like copper lithographic plates, worth more than $1/pound at the scrap yard, swap them for lead.

[Bruntson]

Your plates look more like graviture printing plates used for high quality printing in extremely long production runs. A base metal(often steel) will have a copper overlay placed on it. The copper will be removed to reflect the image of what you want printed. Ink is filled in the relief and the plate is rolled on the paper. You will also find that for longer life, the base metal will be chromed.
Will a magnet stick to the plates????

[zuke]

Sell them on EBAY

[fryboy]

my first thought was litho plate , a soft alloy that isnt lead but then i saw the copper plate ....

[Shiloh]

I have to side with the lithograph plates.

Shiloh