The colour thing is obviously personal taste. THough I do remember our art teacher stressing that blue and brown are a "discordant" combination of colours.
Two of the most attractively colored guns I have come across were a Holland and a Dickson sidelock, both displaying a rich grey silver patina that I guess was left after the original colour case hardening wore off. Does anyone know how to speed up the process of colour fading to get to this beautiful grey patina faster? Without resorting to power brushes that polish old guns making them look like fake coins.
Sure. If you want to not only get the sliver look but the wear pattern itself, put a little Simichrome paste on a cotton glove and handle your gun as you would carrying it and operating it. The high points will wear most quickly of course and the inside corners will retain color as they would naturally. This happens pretty quick (minutes, not hours). Clean and inspect every minute or two as you go. Works really to highlight engraving. In fact, I have a lock that needs this treatment.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/qclHjMQ.jpg)
