Aluminum hilts are noticeably lightweight. Plating is not difficult to recognize. If there is a "danger," it would be someone polishing a sword with the early and somewhat rare nickel-silver hilt. Again, though, polished metal has a different look than plated metal and silver looks different than aluminum and nickel-silver. To my knowledge, silver-plated hilted swords were not burnished (darkened recesses in the design). Some special presentation swords may have had it, or it could have been added by the original owner (doubtful) or postwar. I think most of these were used by SS members, who likely looked upon them as anyone else who carried a sword. I believe the vast majority, and there were not that many, were simply silver-plated, just as the army types were gold-plated, without any additional embellishment.
