I'll ask him if he wants that, i've only met him once and he is 83 years of age. The finish is beautiful making me think that it could be a coat of nickel,  'Electroless Nickel plating is a process that has many advantages over 'electrolytic' processes in an engineering environment. The coating can be used in many fields where a hard, corrosion resistant finish is required. A major advantage of the process is that it is possible to coat the whole surface of an item EVENLY, including internals, unlike electrolytic processes which have difficulty depositing into recessed and internal areas and can result in excessive build-ups on points, corners, etc. The thickness of the plating film is usually measured in micrometers'