I put a King 19" upright bell with it, which had been re-lacquered by someone in the past (epoxy/clear), and - though not too beat-up - nothing to brag about...
...so I straightened the bell out (greasing it like hell, to avoid additional scratching of the epoxy clear lacquer), buffed out the brown spots - as well as buffing away some of the scratches in the lacquer itself - with yellow rouge, cleaned away the buffing dirt with a worn-out silver polishing cloth, and hit it with gold-tinted (to match the body).
There are shiny scratches under the gold, but no more than on the rest of the instrument, I didn't have to strip and completely refinish this bell, and color matches that of the body.
a bit out-of-focus...but I gotta go work, so...