? re: 1914 S-W EK 2s

[George Stimson]

I have three 1914 EK 2s by S-W, all of which appear to have different cores. Is this possible? (If it's well-known, please form line and slap me for my ignorance. )

[EKman]

Pics of these crosses would help, but I will say that I have several duplicate 1914 EKIIs that have different looking cores, often because of differences in paint. I.E. heavy low-quality paint will obscure details and make the core look different than a core with a thin coat of paint. Also, some crosses have blued cores. I have seen all of these variations in crosses from one maker, ultimately, the cores are basically the same, but the processes performed on them make them look different.

[Biro]

George...

This seems a common occurance with 1914 ek2's....although what this means, I don't know either.

While I can't speak for Sy-Wagner, I own a 'Wilm' ek2 which I have seen with not only 3 different cores, but three different maker marks!

I would love to get to the bottom of this - but with such a low value and common item, no-one seems particularly bothered about these 'discrepancies' ...nor replying to threads about them!

now if these were sets of 'oaks'...

TomY has a great composite of many core and maker mark variations from pieces by the same maker....maybe he can shed some light on S-W for you.

In the meantime, here's his multiple 'Wilm' composite..

picture courtesy TomY

[George Stimson]

Thanks for the answer and explanation, Marshall. I guess I'll just accept that mine are different. I have no reason to believe that any of them are not good. And it wouldn't do any good to post pics, I guess, because all three are different -- there's nothing in the finishing that could cause the discrepencies.

[Tom Y]

Here are 6 different S-W's that to my eyes look at least slightly different from each other. One theory is that core manufacture was farmed out to different foundries, thus accounting for the differences from a single maker and similarities between different makers.

[George Stimson]

Thank you very much, Tom!