Mary Alice Fassl wrote in 110104 MMDigest that she seeks a musical
Christmas tree stand like her parents had.  Well, she was
fortunate to find and purchase a restorable musical tree stand
with the same nickel plated brass cover, but the metal has some
dents that must be removed, and the nickel plating is worn thin
in places.

The nickel plated brass cover of her tree stand is very much like
the embossed cover (without plating) pictured in the upper photo
at http://www.mmdigest.com/Gallery/Pictures/MBtreeStand.html 
I presume it is made in a lathe by spinning a circular sheet of
thin brass and working it down to lay on a mandrel pattern.

Questions:

1. Is it possible to remove the dents in the flat brass surface
without introducing curvature?  (Maybe by allowing the center hole
to shrink?)

2. What is the English name of the plating method employed in Germany
100 years ago to apply a nickel finish over the brass?

3. How can Mary Alice locate a good brass-working artisan and a good
nickel plating firm?

Robbie Rhodes - Mechanical Music Digest
Etiwanda, Calif.