Claud Butler, from late 1940s?

[vincenti]

Just acquired an old Claud Butler, probably from around 1950. Anyone know how I can confirm when it was built?

Frame number is 4781, and below this is the number 547, with a slight gap between the 5 and the 47. Does this indicate that it is a 1947 frame, or is this the model number, or perhaps it means nothing at all?

The frame is fillet-brazed or welded construction (no lugs) with pencil seatstays and oval-to-round chainstays. It's very nicely made and at some stage was chrome plated all over (possibly original?. It's now in need of some TLC and a repaint, so I'm trying to find out as much as I can, so as to recreate the original finish as closely as possible.
Any advice welcomed.

[BobT]

Have you seen this website:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Britis ... r_main.htm

I'm not sure if it will give you a definitive answer but it might give you some clues.