Hi
Thought I'd take the opportunity to post these two again. The nickel-plated version is standard(ish!) but the enamel and gilded version?
I suspect that the "fire gilt" possibly refers to the process involving mercury but maybe another member can provide more info on this.
Mercury gilding was widely practised and I have an old jeweller's manual (c. 1885) that has hand-written recipes at the back that use chemicals that would give the H & S dept. absolute nightmares.
Lots of references to arsenic, cyanide, mercury, etc. OK, these are still used today but possibly treated less like a new form of after shave as they might have been back then.....
