Abstract: The apparatus includes a specialized scanning system for sampling the metal includes an annular light source for omindirectionally illuminating the surface, a light regulator, and a matrix camera for forming a grey level image of the surface. The image is histogramed according to grey level. The first four statistical moments are calculated from the histogram. The moments are then used as a feature vector to identify the metal surface. If no match is found within the catalogued metal surfaces, allowing for predetermined tolerances for each moment, then the feature vector is catalogued for future recognition.