[rand]

In Don Laroccas book "Warriors of the Himalayas", page235 he states in reference to a saddle and associated elements he identifies as early 20th century, "While mercury gilding as a technique was commen on sculpture and other objects made of copper alloy or silver, iron objects from Tibet and China otherwise invariably have gold applied by damascening or, more rarely, by parcel gilding, in which mercury gilding is selectively applied over a silver damascened iron ground (cat.nos.19,118-1121). Mercury gilding directly on iron, a technique practised in Europe from at least the fifteenth century, seems to have been unknown, or at least unused, in Asia and was not introduced untill the nineteenth century or later."

The attached photo is figure 124, one of the items Larocca was referring to.