First, the 686 is a stainless steel revolver and it's a grade of stainless that take a high polish very well. So, it's not unusual to see them with a full polish that looks very much like a nickle plated revolver with a high polish finish. I have 4 of the stainless Smith's and polish them up because I like the look and it's easy to clean or touch up any marks.

As for the price asked, while the 8 3/8 inch barrel is somewhat rare, it's also not a highly desired barrel length because it results in a gun that is so distinctly muzzle heavy. With the full lug barrel profile used on the 686 series, that long barrel will make it a bit tiring to shoot at the range. In the long run you'll probably find yourself shooting it from a benchrest with a sandbag to support the barrel, however it can be shot offhand well even if it does get heavy after a while. Benefit of the long barrel is that you get a huge sight radius and a pretty good boost in velocity compared to a 4 inch barrel. This will make it a very good choice for handgun hunting or silohuette shooting. However, with the widespead acceptance of Red Dot sights in shooting competitions, the sight radius benefit of the long barreled guns has pretty much been taken out of the equation. In summation, only a handgun hunter would actively look for a 686 with this barrel length.

IMO, an offer of 400 to 450 dollars is reasonable and I would not expect to see any real increase in it's intrinsic value beyond that price. If you want a 686 with some investment potential, the one that I would consider is the 3 inch version. It's a somewhat oddball length and they are the finest balanced version of the 686 made.