It is unfortunate that the porcelain is chipped on the head badge. It must have looked beautiful when it was all intact. My instincts tell me that the bicycle was in fact painted at some point because there appears to be blue paint on the head badge. Most, if not all, of the turn of the century bicycles I have encountered in tintypes and other old photographs always have highly polished and shiny head badges. I doubt it would have been painted over by the manufacturer. As for the age, I am not the one to ask - but for what it's worth I have the same exact fork on one of my turn of the century bicycles, which dates to 1906 on the earlier side. I would tend to think yours is earlier but, again, I defer to more experienced members. Good luck! I am interested to see what others know about it.