[David Dunlop]

Well now that I have calmed down after all the Edmonton excitement, I can return once again to my real little world. Sigh,

I popped the back cover off the Aerial Coil box to compare the No. 2 Brown paint inside to two other examples I have available: a 1944 Northern Electric Variometer for the 19-Set and an unknown 19-Set Spare Parts Case. Interestingly, although the two 19-Set items look more of a semi-gloss original finish than the interior of the 52-Set Aerial Coil box, all three samples seem to have aged similarly.

One can definitely rule out UV damage to the inside of the aerial box, so the generally universal fading of the paint pigments over time must be a result of oxidation breakdown of the pigments.

I wet down a small patch on each piece and it would appear all three actually come quite close to one another in the wet state. My thought process at this point is to use the wooden back plate from the Aerial Coil box for my matching sample when it comes to getting the paint and to have the match done to the paint when it is wetted down. My logic, and it may very well be flawed, is that the newly made up can of paint will be wet and will typically dry a tone or so lighter. If I match to a dry paint sample, the end result will dry even lighter.

David