IML: gold anodizing (?) on '59 door sill plate inserts

[chrycordoba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

One of the many tasks that my restorer has assigned to me is to get all the Aquitania's stainless and aluminum trim polished.  Two of the pieces are the front door sill plate inserts, which appear to be gold anodized.  They are about 2" wide by 16" long, have a raised crown and "Imperial" in script lettering on a recessed black painted background.  The passenger side is in okay shape (but not worthy of the restoration); the driver's side really needs polishing and painting.

The plating company said he couldn't do the anodizing, but could brass-plate them or do them in 14-carat gold.  The examples of other stuff (non-automotive) he'd done didn't come close to the correct color.  I don't know anything about gold anodizing.  These pieces are very light, so I guess they're aluminum.  The raised crown and "Imperial" are dull and scratched, but the entire piece seems to be this gold-ish color, i.e. when I scratch the back side, no regular aluminum color shows.  Is this some special aluminum alloy that is a gold color through and through, which could be polished like the larger silvery aluminum sill plates and come out nice and shiny, though in gold?  Then my restorer could mask the crown and the lettering and paint the rest black.  Has anyone else had this done, and what are my options?

Thanks in advance for the group's thoughts.

Neal Herman
1959 Imperial Crown 4-door Southampton "Aquitania"
1966 Imperial Crown 4-door "Miss Dorothy"
et al.


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