Hi Don,  I've tried to have some music box bells plated.  I was
never able to find someone who would plate them properly.  They should
be polished and then cleaned first.  Then they should be plated with
"Watts Nickel".  If they do it per typical practice nowadays, they will
end up looking like the bumper of a car instead of the soft gray-silver
that they should be.  I ended up taking it to the plating lab at work
where they make parts by plating a mandrel and did them myself.  Came
out fine.

On the other hand, I restored an old music box for a friend and he
decided to have someone he knew plate the base plate.  It was supposed
to be done like that and the guy insisted that he could do the job
properly.  It came back looking like a '55 Buick.  He told us to rub it
with steel wool if it was too shiny.

Regards,
Craig Smith
near Rochester, New York, USA