You're correct about the printing process. The green, intaglio back is printed first. The black, intaglio front is second and the black and green overprint that includes the Treasury seal, serial numbers, Fed.seal and indicators are third and last.
The green ink used on the back is different than the green ink used for the Treasury seal and serial numbers. It's formulated completely different. The picture quality is poor, but it appears that whatever environmental or chemical trauma that affected the black ink on the front didn't affect the green ink used for the seal and serial numbers. I'm fairly confident that this happened after it left the BEP.
The green ink used on the back is different than the green ink used for the Treasury seal and serial numbers. It's formulated completely different. The picture quality is poor, but it appears that whatever environmental or chemical trauma that affected the black ink on the front didn't affect the green ink used for the seal and serial numbers. I'm fairly confident that this happened after it left the BEP.























