In respone to my post, Ernie wrote:    

>Just for accuracy sake you can't remove lacquer with mineral spirits. 
> 
>I am not ordinarily so mean spirited as to quibble about stuff like this but 
>it is important to use the right solvents so as not to damage the artifacts. 
>Mineral spirits is not a powerful solvent and there aren't many finishes it 
>will remove. 
> 
>I would also caution agains using lacquer thinner on wood. It seems to 
>penetrate and move some of the "life" from the wood leaving a faded surface. 
>It can be used with great care but I don't like to.  It is okay on unpainted 
>metal.
>

The dealer I bought the plane from said that the coating could be removed with
lacquer thinner. What ever it was, it came off pretty easily with mineral
spirits and some light rubbing with a Scotch Brite pad. You are surely right
that it could not have been lacquer. 

I will take your advice and avoid using lacquer thinner. If the mineral spirits
had not taken off the coating, what would you have tried next?

thanks,

Bill B.