All of the theories mentioned above are plausible, but the thing that catches my attention and suggests the gun may have been tampered with is that the finish fades out the lower you go on the grip frame. The rest of the gun looks fairly clean, so why is so little to no bluing left on the lower portion of the grip frame, an area that should, theoretically, have more finish since it's normally protected by the grip panels. I'd love to see the letter for that gun.