Nickel Plated Tell3 Air Pistol.

[Graemevw]

Thanks for your comments. It is always better to get information straight from the horse's mouth rather than books. I have only done a small amount of nickel plating myself, (electro and electroless) so my experience is very limited and most of my information came from books. I do know that you can of course plate straight onto steel if you want, if it is well prepared,and I have done it myself, but the general message I get from the literature is that for a top quality product, and to cover over surface imperfections an initial thin copper plate on the steel is generally used. I always assumed, perhaps wrongly, that companies like Venuswaffenwerk, Webley etc. would have gone for the quality option, especially as the extra cost involved is pretty minimal.

It is a good point you make about the nickel flaking off with the copper still attached.

Whatever the plating technique used, I would still be very suspicious of the originality of any vintage airgun less than 100 years old if it has lost most of its plating, as this suggests that the original plating process was an amateur job and not something sanctioned by the manufacturer of the gun.

Right to be suspicious, especially in there is no mention of it as an option anywhere and no other examples.
I guess we will never know for sure.

I know nothing of tell pistols, were they high quality and high price when new?