Italian Vetterli 70/87/15 gold/brass fittings?

[Anzac15]

Picked up this 1886 Brescia 70/87/15 over the weekend, and am just finishing up a good cleaning on it. Possibly one of the dirtiest rifles I've ever gotten hold of. However, it has cleaned up exceptionally well. One of the best bores I've ever seen on one. However something has caught my eye with it. The buttplate and rear sling swivel seem to have a brass or gold color to them. Whatever the finish is, it looks like it's been on there for quite a long time. I thought maybe presentation/honor rifle stuff, why just the buttplate and the one sling swivel? And why on a 'emergency measure' rifle?
Curious if anyone else has seen this on one of these before.

[Eaglelord17]

Looks just like corrosion to me, potentially a bit of salt corrosion can give a bit of a more golden colour.

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[Aragorn243]

Did it come out of Ethiopia?

[Eaglelord17]

Another thought towards my salt corrosion theory, I wonder if the sweat from a individual combined with a very dry climate would do that to the metal.

[Anzac15]

No, this one did not come out of Ethiopia.

---------- Post added at 09:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:00 AM ----------

This is definitely something applied. I took the buttplate off, and it's bare steel on the inside, but what appears to be 'overbrushing', for lack of a better term. I'll try to get some better pics later.

---------- Post added at 09:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:02 AM ----------

This is definitely something applied. I took the buttplate off, and it's bare steel on the inside, but what appears to be 'overbrushing', for lack of a better term. I'll try to get some better pics later.