Not rust but the stretching of the rear side occurs on the rear of the fork legs when going over rough roads certainly does produce this sort of paint bond failure if the paint is not 100% up to the job. Rust blooms in the cracks would come afterwards once the paint opens up the steel to the elements.
None of this is suggesting that there is not some possible collision damage to the fork. That would require further checking of the fork. But the sort of paint failure I'm seeing is entirely possible without the aid of collision damage. And again the fact that the paint damage is on the REAR of the fork leg and the sort of paint failure on the frame would suggest that this is likely the case.
Thankyou Vredstein. Posting this question on the C&V forum would very likely turn up an answer if there is such a history.