There should be woodgrain under the letters.
I think that's a reflection under the left side lettering. But yeah, the chrome plating that should be there had some sort of an amber coating making them appear more goldish looking. I get that the silver is just a cheap workaround for the more correct look. You would think they'd at least try to do a chrome look paint or something.
But like everything else, if yours is trashed, and you need one, this may be a suitable alternative. I mean, NOS ones are far and few between. And way more than 150 bucks. At least if you had some of these, people in the know will be able to spot them in an instant.
Yeah, Angelo Valenti was making the top plates as well from a marble style pattern of gravoply that mimicked the original woodgrain. It's a laminated plastic engraving media that is used to make office signs and label tags for the most part. I know, I used to engrave gravoply working on a huge relabeling project at the nuke plant I worked at.
