I can not tell for 100% sure but I think you lucked out and have an actual I.H. gear. Going by the rims, shape of the tongue it looks like some IH gears I have had. Those 8 bolt rims with the odd 4 pairs or 8 hole toward the outer edge, look identical to ones on my 1-PR corn picker, and I bet they are 16" tires. Get a wire wheel or brush and rub on the cast hub caps, or whatever you want to call them, and on the cast part of the hitch end of the tongue, I would almost bet you will find some IHC markings on the cast.
Let us know what you find I am curious.
As to color, red is always nice :wink: :lol: , cream rims would look nice to, or even implement blue on the rims. I do not know what the original scheme would have been. Sometimes a pocket knife scratching around on crack and under side of things can revel hints of the original color.
My 2 cents,
Russel Foster