I've spent much of the morning trying to polish some rust spots and small pits out of the chromed barrel of an old three piece Phil hub that came on my recently purchased Teledyne. On the front hub I've been polishing, I can't find the script "Phil" at all. The rear hub, which seems of identical vintage, almost certainly its original mate, still has the "Phil" label, but the engraving seems very much shallower than my recent one piece Phil hubs. The old rear "Phil" label does not appear to be a decal, but compared to the more deeply engraved newer hub, the label amost looks as if it were just painted on rather than engraved. I suppose one might suspect a counterfeit, except I never heard of the old three piece hubs being counterfeited, plus the quality and smoothness of this hub is exquisite - what I'd expect from a genuine Phil Wood, and much better than I would expect from a counterfeit. Were the labels of older Phil hubs worn away more easily than the new ones?
Regards,
Jerry Moos