CCC Gold- Urgent opinions needed!

[Ludwig]

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Difficult to judge this one from just pictures, but it looks to me as if there is gold on the backplate, too !?

[Patrick W]

Thank you all for your answers and especially to Thomas for the pic. There does appear to be some gold on the repair solder and also the hinge looks to have been filed at some point although the finish is unbroken . Any more opinions?

[Thomas Durante]

Hi guys,

Patrick, are you sure that is gold finish on the solder of the repair?

F&BL were one of the CCC makers that finished their badges after the attachment of the hinge and catch. A very typical hallmark of F&BL CCCs is the off-color area around the hinge and catch, which was probably due to heating of the base metal while soldering the hinge and catch on and still warm when the finish was applied. This discoloration would show up under the original finish (and always does on original F&BLs), but I doubt it would still be there if it was refinished at a later date.

If there is any gold finish on the solder or backplate, well that seals its fate, but lets be sure before we send this one packing.

Tom D.

[Thomas Bendixen]

Hi guys,

Patrick, are you sure that is gold finish on the solder of the repair?

F&BL were one of the CCC makers that finished their badges after the attachment of the hinge and catch. A very typical hallmark of F&BL CCCs is the off-color area around the hinge and catch, which was probably due to heating of the base metal while soldering the hinge and catch on and still warm when the finish was applied. This discoloration would show up under the original finish (and always does on original F&BLs), but I doubt it would still be there if it was refinished at a later date.

Tom D.

Very good point there Tom

Cheers Thomas

[Patrick W]

Tom, that is a great point and one that I hadn't considered, there is indeed a very distinct discolouration and change to the finish around the hinge and catch.
Having examined the repair under magnification in the miserable daylight we have here I am now fully happy that there is no gilding over the repair solder. What I could see before was the reflection of the reverse finish onto the silver of the solder. Also there is absolutely no trace of gold on the backplate, the marks that can be seen on the front are rust spots.

I am pretty much convinced now that the finish is original to the badge just in unusually good condition.

Thanks all

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Patrick,

I also wanted to mention that the filing on the hinge is also nothing to worry about. I have 3 F&BLs (2 bronze & 1 silver) and 2 of them have one edge of the hinge filed. This anomoly also seems to be pretty common on F&BLs, just part of their construction process. The finish on mine is over these filings as well.

Tom D.

[Patrick W]

Tom,

Many thanks!

Patrick