Cecil Dover wrote in 200918 MMDigest, "It is not a decal, it doesn't
look like it is silk screened and it is certainly not hand lettered."

Maybe it's gold leaf.  See the article at
https://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/A_Little_About_Applying_Gold_Leaf.html 

  "A Little About Applying Gold Leaf - The ancient art of gilding can
add a touch of class to custom projects.
  "Gold leafing is an art that dates back to at least 2500 BC.  This
ancient decorative art began when a tiny piece of malleable precious
metal was beaten down into a delicately fine sheet of gold, with
a thinness of only 4 to 5 millionths of an inch.  These fragile sheets
of gold were overlaid onto an object, an art which became known as
'gilding'."

Robbie Rhodes
Etiwanda, California