Meiji Period Chromium plated fittings?

[Tokaido]

Hello listeros

walking on a fleamarket today, I stumbled over this little kogai.

It look like it was originally chromium plated (or nickel-plated) over a base of silver or shibuichi. The base metal shows up at places where the plating felt of and the blackish oxidation of the base metal gives a clue of silver or shibuichi, I guess.

The whole thing was once covered in clear laquer, now slightly yellowisch, which is peeling of in most places.

I do not think that this is a modern replica, but I wonder if during Meji (or later) the fittingsmakers made some experiments with the method of chromium plating or nickel plating. Since these metal platings where totally new to the Japanese, it may have been an avantgarde thing?

Any ideas?

 

Greetings

Andreas