Brass , Copper , Ni cores and (zinc cores early and later) were used mostly earlier in the war . Regulations required iron cores from the start but manufacturers were slow to adapt/listen .
I have both not magnetic core types -- an Ni-alloy core - I only can guess the same material as the frame is made of -- and a brass core .
Deffinitly 2 different core dies ... but - do not know with any certainty if one is 'earlier' than the other .
Purely just going by appearance ... the Ni core EK2 has spots of lacquer frame and the other does not . I would guess the Ni core cross might be earlier .
I noticed the 2 cores some time ago after I got my first brass core Schickle . It took a good year to find the other core .
Being not magnetic I only found out later ( in hand) that it had a Ni core and not a brass one .
A side by side comparison only shows the core differences well .
Comment