I would guess that the washer might have been part of the retaining system for one of the French precursors of the Cinelli BiValent hub system. With such systems, the FW remains attached to the frame when the wheel is removed. Steve Maasland brought such a system to Cirque once, if I recall correctly.
harvey sachs mcLean va
Interesting frame, can anyone explain the right rear dropout? It looks like
it's got
a fairly heavy washer brazed around the axle slot, as well as a thin strip
of metal surrounding the
slot and back of the dropout http://www.reneherse.com/
Steve Birmingham
Lowell, Ma
USA