Fitted to the B31 post war until Aug. '46 but not fitted to the M Series models...Good levers to have though. They do have a high value but are also very nice to use, so I wouldn't rush into removing them...Ian
Could it be that the levers with these bare finish are from a batch of postwar replacements?. They tend to turn up now and then in NOS, all with the same bare finish.
Think the prewar and early wartime versions would all have been chrome or cadmium plated...
Well, its a 1949 model so post-war. I believe there was a severe shortage of plating materials after the war and chrome was in very short supply. So it would make sense to use painted rather than plated parts. I have a sneaking suspicion that BSA put left over and odd-ball parts on export models to clear surpluses.
The shortage of materials for plating came about during the Korean War (June 1950-1953). It related specifically to Nickel, which was used during the plating process but was also needed for explosives manufacture occurred....
This affected BSA (and I assume other companies)...Ian
