Leitz Wetzlar easel restoration question

Does anyone out there use a wood Leitz Wetzlar? The wooden wetzlar easel arrived and I went about removing the crudely sprayed black paint on the wooden base. What I found underneath is(was) a square of thick white paint where a piece of photo paper would have covered.
My question is...is this feature original to these easels? Perhaps to make focusing on the baseboard easier? If so it might explain why it was oversprayed black---could the white color might have fogged paper?
If so I doubt if this is something Leitz would have built into the easels.:confused: Underneath the white, the wood has a very different character--as if it wasn't "finished" like the surrounding wood--which might indicate that this is an original finish and I should repaint it (and repaint with what??) My next question has to do with refinishing the wood---what finish did Leitz Wetzlar use on these things? A varnish? shellac? verethane? The survivng finish dosen't look like anything I've been able to identify.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Recommendations?

John, I don't know what the white finish is, but I agree that it is highly distinctive. My 8x10 and 12x16 easels both have it. It's almost like a thick layer of white lacquer or even baryta rather than a paint. On my (rather old) easels the layer has a fine craquelure, which adds to the old master feel

I like to have a white base for focussing on. Other easels I have used have been plastic or regular paint, and provided the surface is not too glossy I can't say I prefer one over the other. Any good satin-finish white paint should work well.

John Kasaian said:

what finish did Leitz Wetzlar use on these things? A varnish? shellac? verethane? The survivng finish dosen't look like anything I've been able to identify.

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The only Leitz easel I have known was all wood finish, with no white.

As for the wood finish, I doubt it is polyurethane if the easel is old(ish). In any case, polyurethane is a bad choice - it's the same stuff that makes for rotting light seals and loudspeakers - and is destined to turn to goo with age.

The original finish is likely shellac. I recommend sanding it down and using 'Waterlox', either the marine varnish or the gym-floor finish. The stuff is made from tung-oil, and tung-oil wood finishes seem to hold up for millenia, or at least they do for Chinese artifacts.