Original Nickel Henry

[Fox Creek Kid]

[Blackpowder Burn]

WOW!! 

[Mike]

The old Nickle finish looks great, i would have my copy done if it looked like that. It has aged to a nice patina.

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[tommy4toes]

Cool!!!!!!

[pistol1911]

My 25 year old Nickel finish.

[tommy4toes]

Very cool!!!!!

[Fox Creek Kid]

However, the Adams Process of nickeling was not perfected until 1870. Just a tidbit of historical info.

[Mike]

Looked at it again and it looks Tined. It does look great.

[Buck Stinson]

I agree with Mike.  Nickel does not take on that appearance, especially on a gun in as high condition as that one.

[Mike]

I cant find any reference to Tining guns but only did a quick search, if it is Nickle it is a very flat finish. I do like it

[Fox Creek Kid]

Some Spencer rifles were tinned for the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.

[Mike]

I have read it some were that this had been done but could not fined a web link. I did have the spencer book ten years ago when i collected Cav items.

[Blair]

The US Navy does indeed experiment with different metal finishes on a wide variety of small arms used aboard ships during the late 1850's to early 1870's.
Tin plating seems to have offered the best results.
However, the Navy also found that by adding a dissimilar metal to the surface of the small arms in a salt air/water environment caused more problems with corrosion than it solved.
Armory Bright and Blued worked best.
My best,
 Blair

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

For what it's worth, Wiley Sword's book on The Historic Henry Rifle lists silver plating and gold plating of Henry rifles in the November 1862 price list. Those are the only plated finishes listed.