Does this explain the missing second printing of the 4th edition 5/6 player seafarers box?
In 2007 the 4th edition of Catan was released. The Base, C&K and Seafarers expansions, along with the 5/6 player extensions, were all released with the new 4th edition artwork and with the boxes containing the copyright date of 2007.
Then in 2012, Catan made changes to the game including making the hexes thicker to make them easier to join together and to reduce bending.
The game was released again using the same 4th edition artwork for the hexes and boxes, but with the new boxes having just a slightly lighter colour than the 2007 edition. The base set and both expansions carried the new copyright date of 2012. The 5/6 player base extension had the date 2013 and the c&k 5/6 player carried the date 2014.
However it did not appear that a new seafarers had been released. I have for many years been unable to find a 4th edition seafarers 5/6 player box with any other date than 2007.
Finally I think I have the answer!! (see below photo)
I was recently given a sealed 2007 5/6 player seafarers set. As I had this set already in my collection I was going to put it in my spares pile when I noticed the colour looked different to my existing copy. So I checked and the colour of this new box matched the colour of my 2012 second printing of Seafarers. It was the same lighter teal colour (see photo). I decided to open this set and found that inside it did indeed have the new thicker hexes. This despite both the box and the instructions showing the 2007 copyright date.
I can only presume from this that when the reprinting occurred, someone forgot to update the 2007 copyright details on the Seafarers 5/6 player set. Based on the colour of the box and the thicker hexes being inside this seems to be the most logical conclusion.
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Until then, I am happy to consider this puzzle closed.