Help identifying strings: coated flats with blue silks?

I picked up a used jazz bass a few months ago, and it has some interesting flats installed. They have blue silks on both ends, and there appears to be a smooth, clear coating over the string itself.

Any ideas?

 

BTW, when I first saw the silk color, I thought they might be Chromes, but Chromes are typically very light gray in appearance and they're definitely not coated. So unless there was a coated Chrome variant out there, I think these are something else.

I'll try to post some pics later tonight, but I thought someone might know just from the description.

 

OK, so I had been playing this thing in a dark room. When I put it under a halogen lamp for closer inspection, I think what I have here are some Chromes that have been polished, and I was mistaking the polished finish for a thin coating of some kind.

I had never seen Chromes that were shiny before. Not "Brasso" shiny, mind you, but light-reflective nonetheless.

On closer inspection, I can see that down near the bridge, they have retained their dull gray slightly rough appearance, which is what I remember Chromes looking (and feeling) like.

Mystery solved I guess!

 

Exactly.

I guess I won't exactly be starting up a new science of "string forensics" any time soon if I can't tell the difference... But at least the silks had me sort of going in the right direction originally!

Incidentally, these Chromes are much quieter (no fret clanking noise) than the 5-string set I had on a Jazz bass a couple years back. This bass has a much lower action. I'm guessing that the combination of the finger funk coating and the lower action must be responsible for the reduced noise. In my previous experience with Chromes, the fret clanking was so overpoweringly bad (worse than any nickel rounds I had ever played) I had to ditch them after 2 months. These are tolerable.

I'm still going to swap them, however... I have a "rounds only for Jazz bass" policy at my house.