Does anyone know if color shifts of the above issue were common?
Here are two examples (taken from plate block first day covers) for which I have numerous examples all showing varying degrees of what I would call a color shift or "misregistration" as the term may be.
The first example is "normal"; the second shows the color shift, which is especially noticeable at the bottom and right side of the portrait and in the position of the lettering in relation to the bottom of the picture. Also, the hair hanging down on the ear is different as the "normal" stamp shows some of the ear in front of the hair that is not shown on the second example:
