What is this Edwardian paint?

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Hi,

I have an Edwardian house (built 1910). Many of the rooms still have their original lime plaster and are coated in either a cherry red or dark green paint. The paint is matt, although I don't know whether that is just because it is old.

Does anyone know what these paints are likely to be - my house is pretty ordinary, so I assume they're bog standard for the time? I assume they are both linseed/lead oxide based, with the green coloured with arsenic. The cherry red is, to my mind, too dark to be iron oxide.

Was this intended as some sort of final coat (as in, the Edwardians who lived here had a uniformly red and green house ...) or a sealant/base layer over the lime before putting on wallpaper? The colours seem much too dark and heavy for the Edwardian period, to my mind.

I ask purely because I'm intrigued! I intend to leave everything as it is.

Thanks

JC
 
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Its distemper ! Its a early form of emulsion really. but can cause big problems now when you want to paint over it with modern paints. A good sand down and one or two coats of Zinsser Gardz will seal it and you can carry on painting with what ever you want to put on. red and green were the most used colours of the time, right up to the 40's early 50's before vinyl emulsion came into its own.
 

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