Consistency within Clifford Essex models?

[Jody Stecher]

Here's a question for David Wade and others who have seen many Clifford Essex banjos over the years. My CE banjo seems to have been built before the Great War and while it has no serial number or model name on the dowel stick/perch pole or anywhere else, its features generally conform to those of the Imperial model. Except that all the other CE Imperials that I've seen in photos (all two of em) had a grooved bezel/bracket band. This one has a notched bezel and it's very striking, having lost none of its luster, 1/4 inch wide and quite heavy. Is that standard for the Imperial? Perhaps the others I saw were retro-fitted (but why?) ? I'm wondering if mine is a prototype since no model name is mentioned. My Maude Evans banjo, which appears to be a "one-off" project made for a pupil of Clifford Essex (but not *by* Clifford Essex) in the late 19th century has hybrid zb and regular banjo features, and also has a broad heavy shiny notched bezel similar to the one on my CE, and it also still shines over a century later. It seems the history of banjo manufacture in the UK is as untidy as it is is in the US.