brownish wash on silver candelabra?

[moco2d]

I have a pair of Italian silver candelabra that appear to have a sort of brownish paint in places, however it comes off when cleaned with wadding. Does anyone know what this is and why it was done?
Thanks
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[JLDoggett]

If they predate WWII they may have been painted to disguise them during the war. As countries needed money for their war efforts confiscated good were often melted down to... Here in the US we see a darth of pre-civil war silver from the south because of this issue.
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