Nickle has a slightly yellow or soft golden color to my eye. "Brushed" and "coin finishes" are two common descriptive terms for when a gun has had all the remaining case color polished off to restore an even finish. Pits may still be present but even they are slightly less obvious. This gun certainly started out with case colors which are now all gone due to wear of a gunsmiths attention. Re"coloring" guns never was much of a thing over in GB as much as it was in the US up until a few years ago. Nickle was an option when this gun was made but I suspect it cost a few percent more. The buyer could always add it later if needed.
