Yes, I found this stove at a local swapmeet, where I often find these in general from time to time, they seem rather plentiful in New Zealand. I forgot to mention something else about the colour. Is there any record when Optimus changed the colour scheme to blue? I have an early 8R with its box and instructions, has an embossed lid with the round optimus sticker and the instruction sheet is dated 1961 and is painted in blue hammerite much the same kind as this 22 is with in green hammerite. It appears they changed again to a metallic blue in later years and doesnt have the hammerite finish on their later stoves.
ok. Mk1 would be Optimus 22 Mark1 of Optimus 22 dating Mark 1, 2 &3. Much has been learned & posted since 2008 when the terms were floated (2008 link above). ====== Colors: Interesting, definitely an interesting view. I'm not aware dating (or year range) by color has been explored. A brief glimpse at examples could be inline with your observations. My focus has been 111s. The 22 development details are likely nearly lock-step WITH caveat: the 2 have different cases, for me, that could result in the 2 not sharing same case-details all along. That said tank lid, cntrl knobs, burner w/flame ring... <- these such details i would think do sync-up 111 & 22. The 8R is quite different has me hesitant to align details w/111 &22. Confession: I may have blue-green color-blindness factor, if we delve deeper into paint color it may turn out my eyes cant be trusted to say either way. that and lighting, photo digitization results vary: [your 61 (or later) 8R hammerite blue] this 63 111 1963 - Optimus No:111 - Norwegian military hammerite green. this 1965 111 Optimus No 111 (1965?) if 2 choices are blue or green hammerite, green i guess. this (new in) no.22 1965 Optimus 22B 1965 metallic blue what color is this 1966 111 NOS Optimus 111 hammerite blue? scroll down, or is it green? 1964-67 111 Identification help needed hammerite green i suspect. another Norwegian military
I must agree that its difficult to determine colour on the computer screen with those photos. Its quite a subtle change and even with my stove you could be fooled for blue in poor lighting. Its definitely apparent that the early stoves were done in hammerite, again its a very subtle hammered finish compared to some hammerite paints ive seen and could easily be mistaken for metallic. I will grab some photos of both my stoves side by side for comparason, even though its an 8r, it should give an idea of the difference.
