And that's the bottom line, at least for Carbonia-blued vintage S&Ws. Unless a gun left the factory relatively recently, a truly 100% authentic restoration in no longer in the cards.

chief38:
I have a case very similar to yours. I bought a Colt SAA new in 1979 for $329.99. I immediate had it engraved in a deeply cut old west scroll style, for which the case colors on the frame first had to be removed. The firearm was decently re-blued after the work, including the frame, but I was never quite satisfied.

Finally, last year, I returned it to Colt and they applied their high polish Royal Blue finish, and color casehardened the frame and hammer. The result is a gorgeous piece, as were yours. I consider this to be a true factory refinish because the original manufacturer performed the work using materials and methodologies germane to the era during which the firearm was originally produced. If I had gone with Turnbull (whose case colors now closely match those currently turned out by Colt) and their charcoal bluing process, the results would not have been "period correct".

And were I ever to sell this SAA (which I won't), I might not recoup every penny of the restoration cost - but I certainly do not consider this gun "devalued" in any way.

However, there is a heck of a difference between circa 1980s 3rd generation Colt SAAs and pre-model S&Ws.

LongColt