Hi Graham , I'm pretty sure they are cast iron . They have pits and stainless doesn't pit . On mine ther was a chrome layer , a nickle layer and copper over the cast iron .I stripped them with 80 grit ,and worked through the grits up to 1000 . They look alot better than they did but far from perfect . But in California , I'm guessing it would be at least 5 to 700 bucks a handle . The locks are made out of the same stuff so I did them also . If I can figure how to post pictures I will .