Hi David,
I have an unmarked ek2 with exactly the same"paint" on the inside of the beading.I scratched a bit of the overspray off and it came away like paint that has been sprayed on an unprepared surface(bit like paint that has been sprayed on chrome with out roughing up or priming the surface.Certainly wasnt much adherance there.
I agree with you that it is paint not corrosion.
I havent always gone with the popular theory that eks with paint on the inner beading are always done as a touchup for the core.A lot of collectors believe this but there arent any definate facts to support this.It seems to be a logical conclusion thats all.
I believe this in some cases was done by the factory for the following reasons,
The inner frame on some eks didnt always lay nice and flat on the surface of the core after assembly(especially on later war crosses,where the quality wasnt as good as earlier pieces).You would get gaps between the frame and the core.Painting a line of black paint that matches the core around the inner beading and upto 0.5 of the height of the inner beading,would effectively, visually hide these gaps and you would get a much more finished looking product.
Imagine running the white frosting down to the core surface and having gaps.The gaps would be so much more obvious.
Some eks,that i have seen with intact frosting and the inner beading painted seem to have a more finished appearance,and if done properly visually makes the cross look better.It seems to give the actual core more depth as well.
The reason i dont support the core retouching theory is simply,why,if you were retouching a core would you have to paint around the whole inner edge?Surely you would just retouch the area needing it.
Also why run the paint up the actual inner sides of the beading at all?.I thought,we were touching up the core.i am quite sure people back then were adept at touching up things and could of masked the beading off to stop getting paint on it.Even if you used a paint brush,you wouldnt(unless you were incredibly messy)have to get paint on the beading if you were only touching up the core.
Doesnt make sense.
regards keifer
I have an unmarked ek2 with exactly the same"paint" on the inside of the beading.I scratched a bit of the overspray off and it came away like paint that has been sprayed on an unprepared surface(bit like paint that has been sprayed on chrome with out roughing up or priming the surface.Certainly wasnt much adherance there.
I agree with you that it is paint not corrosion.
I havent always gone with the popular theory that eks with paint on the inner beading are always done as a touchup for the core.A lot of collectors believe this but there arent any definate facts to support this.It seems to be a logical conclusion thats all.
I believe this in some cases was done by the factory for the following reasons,
The inner frame on some eks didnt always lay nice and flat on the surface of the core after assembly(especially on later war crosses,where the quality wasnt as good as earlier pieces).You would get gaps between the frame and the core.Painting a line of black paint that matches the core around the inner beading and upto 0.5 of the height of the inner beading,would effectively, visually hide these gaps and you would get a much more finished looking product.
Imagine running the white frosting down to the core surface and having gaps.The gaps would be so much more obvious.
Some eks,that i have seen with intact frosting and the inner beading painted seem to have a more finished appearance,and if done properly visually makes the cross look better.It seems to give the actual core more depth as well.
The reason i dont support the core retouching theory is simply,why,if you were retouching a core would you have to paint around the whole inner edge?Surely you would just retouch the area needing it.
Also why run the paint up the actual inner sides of the beading at all?.I thought,we were touching up the core.i am quite sure people back then were adept at touching up things and could of masked the beading off to stop getting paint on it.Even if you used a paint brush,you wouldnt(unless you were incredibly messy)have to get paint on the beading if you were only touching up the core.
Doesnt make sense.
regards keifer
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