Charles Andrews wrote in part:
(and I'd bet the sole reason the Confente lugs did not have a cast-in cutout was because Medici planned to used those lugs on their own frames..the source of the original dust-up between Mario and Simonetti, right? Do I have that right? The other reason may have been that a panto'd cutout was cleaner and more precise, and since Confente was a very low-production builder demanding high prices for his work, the additional expense of panto work was unimportant compared to the precision of the final product.)
Reading the archives from long ago, it appeared to be a number of things. The Confente name, part design and sourcing, transfers, the Pro-Strada model name used on both lines (my conjecture), just the colors inverted. Seat binder bolts with Rexart and Confente stamped in them. I bet Mario looked around in many directions and found manipulation that he was not aware of.
Even with pantographing, there will be a small radius at an acute corner, so investment casting is easier to achieve sharp corners.
The low production angle is logical, a long time to cover the tooling costs at the rate Mario was producing. Casting a blank lug and placing the ornament later was probably the plan, and not Mario's plan.
Cut out lugs provide better viewing of filler flow, but if one wants to braze FAST, give them lugs that hide less than perfect filler penetration, and cutouts can fill up, requiring clean up or less than exemplary craftsmanship to be shown.
And as you say it was only a few dollars per frame, multiply by the total DeRosa production and a nice bit of pocket change.
Especially if you don't think it matters.
>From a post by Jerry Moos, the only way I guessed long ago that Merckx was using DeRosa's at one point was by in image of him riding along and the heart ornament visible on the top of the fork crown, the balance of the bike was labeled Eddy Merckx.
John Jorgensen
Torrance Ca USA