02-12-2015, 11:56 PM
What I would suggest, before stripping the cabinet down to bare steel, is test the spray paint with some alcohol and see if it thins out or wipes off. Then, barring that, try dabbing a small section at a time with lacquer thinner and see if you can soften the paint and gently scrape it or scrub it off with 0000 steel wool. This will depend on how think the paint it of course. If the original paint finish can be salvaged with hand work that would be best, if the cabinet was stripped and repainted it basically becomes just slightly better then a Spanish Brown 511 repainted Labrador Grey, but if it's too far gone it's too far gone. Maybe investigate what a museum furniture conservator would do to get the spray paint off, they have to handle such things on a daily basis. With regard to the escucheon, as far as I know nobody has ever made reproductions of these, the original was bronze or brass, if it's aluminum looking then someone painted it that way.
Regards
Arran
Regards
Arran