Were tank badges painted?

!960's two tone Slimline Dommy tank  badges were painted in the same colour as the tank bottoms .With the raised edge of lettering chrome.

... photo! As my tank is silver it would be unnoticeable if the background was painted the tank colour but I have idly speculated that a black background would look nice. On the end of a very long list of - mostly non-Norton - tasks in my virtual in-box.....

... do it the way you like it and let the paint code obsessives argue amongst themselves.

The best way to check authenticity is to look at period road tests , Bikes often borrowed from dealers stock.. And ask members who have owned the models from then till now. I had a two tone Norton in the early 1960's and have kept one for the last 36 years, only repainting when absolutely necessary through rust taking hold.  Factory photos are less reliable as pictures of pre production bikes got sent to the advertising dept sometimes. I am looking at one that shows paint missing from footrests , side panels missing tickler slot and tank badges that never reached the sales floor !.

... my copy of a compendium of Norton articles which includes road tests of Jubilee, Navigator and Electra from the Motor Cycle and Motor Cycling. The photos are poor quality and grainy but it seems clear that the Jubilee and Navigator badges have no paint but the Electra, which has a silver tank, seems to have a black background. To add even more confusion, there's also a riders' reports article on the Jubilee which is accompanied by two photos of different bikes which are unclear but definitely show the Norton badge with a dark background. Obviously real bikes (reg 620FXF and JPH431C) as are the others.

So as before, there's obviously no "correct" way.

Incidentally, that book - Norton from 1946 edited by Cyril Ayton, former editor of Motorcycle Sport, is a real goldmine. ISBN 1-870979-00-1 if you can find one. In fact there are a few listed: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?ds=20&kn=1-870979-00-1&ref_=ds_ac_d_14&sts=t

I dissagree ! , the badge would be painted the same colour as the tank lower ,white (dove).

Looking through the most excellent collection of Norton sales brochures .....assembled by the Editor, I notice that from 1960 onwards the Tank badges had various finishes.
Most of the Models (but not all) have the raised lettering (ie. Norton) painted Black.
This continues for 1961 and 1962.  However the new UK 650SS has the background filled in with Black whereas the Norton letters remain with a natural metal finish. 
Apparently the export models of that era reflected this change with background colours of Red, Silver and Black depending on the Tank finish.

Did Norton colour the tank badges to suit the model, one colour for, say a 500, another for a 600?

I can think of a couple of manufactures that did this, although smaller ranges of vehicles.

My unrestored ES2 slimline has green background matching the top colour.

Check out the supposedly NOS item on eBay Motors US. Item no 37663650226. Screenshot attached.
Also check out the photo of my original Atlas tank.
 

'Norton Twins Restoration' (Bacon) has lots of original period pictures.  All are black and white, so can't always tell between black and tank colour.

Page 18: 1960 Model 99 de Luxe: coloured top half of tank, dove grey bottom - and no paint on the badge.
Page 19: 1962 650SS: silver tank.  Black background to letters.
Page 20: 1966 Atlas: silver tank.  Appears to be no paint on chrome flash
Page 20: 1966 88SS: silver tank. Black background to letters
Page 21: 1965 Atlas: coloured tank, same colour background to letters
Page 22:  1967 Atlas: coloured tank, same colour background to letters
Page 23:  1969 Mercury: silver tank and dark painted background - but cannot tell if it's black but looks dark enough
Page 34: 1967 Atlas: silver tank, Black background to letters.
Page 139: 1961 Jubilee: twin tone tank, Norton raised letters in black (possibly - but uncertain)
Page 147: 1959 Jubilee: twin tone tank, no paint on badge
Page 148: 1964 Jubilee: single colour tank, background to letters looks like tank colour
Page 158:  1963 Jubilee: single colour tank, background to letters looks like tank colour
Page 159: 1959 Jubilee: twin tone tank, possibly black, and black background to letters
Page 160:  1959 Jubilee: twin tone but probably no paint on badge

It looks like the factory didn't have a fixed policy.  But generally with single tank colour they used the same colour behind the letters.  And generally with plain silver tanks they used black.  With twin tone tanks, they couldn't make up their minds so they sometimes used top half colour and sometimes used black background but occasionally used black letters instead on Lightweights!

Still dissagree!!,  Having had an 88DL and a 99DL with orriginal paint ,they both had the badge around the lettering painted in dove . Perhaps it was a 1960 thing which was i believe the launch year of the big DL .     Funny that we are still interested in such trivia 65 years on. The late great Neville Hinton (our records man) told me in no uncertain terms that my red  99DL was the wrong colour (you did not argue with Neville!).  It like my 88 actually left the factory in red with chrome case !.

I'm with Rob on the Delux badge finishes.  I had two in the past (one Red, one Black; two tones)and both had dove grey badge background.

Plumstead had a tendency to use large and coloured tank badges on Matchless and AJS. Bracebridge street seem to have been more restrained in most things. 

Might there have been a change of practice when production moved and AMC had full control of production ? 

My 1963 Norton sales Brochure shows all the standard Lightweights with unpainted badges apart from the De-luxe 350 which appears to be Black.......matching the Tank top colour.  Additionally, all the export Lightweights were supposed to have painted badges.  There was not that many.

Now these Brochures were printed at the end of 1962 so may not reflect the actuality of the times. As by January 1963 Navigator production had moved to Plumstead and was in full swing almost immediately. 
Of possible interest to the History Buffs.......the two last Navigators to be built at Bracebridge were 19P / 105051 & 19P / 105052 in early 1963. Suggesting that the engines were assembled  elsewhere.

Returning to Brochure pictures......my 1964 Brochure reveals a significant change to the finish of the model badge colours. The Brochure shows the Jubilee with a Burgundy colour Tank with a Light Blue badge background.  (Artistic mistake???)
The 350 Navigator gets a Polychromatic Blue Tank but lighter Blue painted badge. The new 400  Electra getting a Silver Tank but also Light Blue painted Badge background.
There does appear to be any hard-fast rule in respect of the Lightweight Badge finishes.

The 88 I had in Cyprus 1963 had them in same as lower tank, Dove Grey.