copper-plated vise?

[PFSchaffner]

I picked up this grotty (dull green-gray) vise at an estate sale this weekend.
Cleaned up, it revealed itself to be made of some kind of soft, non-magnetic
cast metal, originally brightly polished and ?copper plated. Is this just an
attempt to put a flashy surface on a flimsy vise? Or what? Is this something
I should recognize?

[gibsontool]

Not magnetic so maybe non sparking,could be related to gas fitting?
Nice looking vise,I'd have that on a display shelf with some thing cool clamped in the jaws.

[PFSchaffner]

The screw and wear plates are steel, so presumably not non-sparking. I did wonder briefly if it might be a one-off display piece such as you describe.

[gibsontool]

I think I need to look closer before I make a dumb comment.But it's still a hell of a good looking vise.

[Sudsy]

Kinda looks like brass / bronze in the photo

[PFSchaffner]

Kinda looks like brass / bronze in the photo

That was of course my hope, but I think not. If you look at the
arch of the moveable jaw, or at the wear-prone edge of the
fixed jaw, or at the rough bits of corrosion along the base,
you'll see what the metal looks like (soft, silvery) when the
plating is gone. And scratching the bottom (it's hollow, for
the most part) with an awl or the tip of a knife reveals the
same soft silvery substrate. I think it's just pot metal
-- judging by the considerable heft, probably zinc alloy pot metal,
rather than aluminum. With a copper wash, if that's likely.

I'm seeing this as what some poor drill operator received to
commemorate 35 years on the job 

[Bill Houghton]

Copper plating was not uncommon as a transition material between one metal and another.  But, if there's no sign of any other plating on this little vise, I assume it was at one time just shiny copper.  Maybe it was a marketing ploy.