Lacquer on Record 077a bull nose plane

[JohnPW]

I've got a Record 077a bull nose plane, it seems to have lacquer all over it including under the "handle", is it original?

There's some rust "veins" under the lacquer and I had to scrape it off before sanding off the rust.

 

[skipdiver]

I have a Record 077 and not a bit of lacquer in sight.