An interesting fact I didn't know ....

I was reading through 'Toy Soldiers' by Simon Clark and came across an article about Britains figures before 1945 being painted in a mixture of Printers Ink rather than Enamel paint ! . A London company called Kents supplied the Printing Ink and it was mixed with a clear varnish, the mixing was done in batches which varied and was then given to the painters  , unfortunately this had a habit of separating and had to be remixed regularly . This gave rise to some of the colour variants you encounter in old figures, an almost matt finish and an translucent finish  was due to insufficient mixing . The different batches which where supplied to the many 'out workers' who painted the figures at home also accounts for the colour variants .