thanks all, for the comments! my concern regarding this blade is whether it was done deliberately to look like this, or was it applied artificially, accidental or otherwise.
i took some closeups using natural lighting. i did notice that there was a couple spots in the katik where it was coming off. at the moment, i'm kinda partial into being done deliberately. it's too uniform throughout the blade. even on the smallest parts, such as the elephant's trunk, is covered with whatever it is. also the edges appeared to have been sharpened after it was applied. robert, the overlay sounds interesting. kinda like plating perhaps?
it started to drizzle...
