Quote Originally Posted by Pleater View Post
the brass really ought to be shiny.
Of course I agree it should be; but then I was, a long time ago, a cadet at the Saint Cyr military academy in France, where they made us remove (by dint of furious rubbing with Brasso) the staybrite varnish on belt buckles and buttons, so that those could be properly shined every day to a proper dazzling polish...