1900 restoration

[Sergio Natali]

Originally Posted by Olle

Like Hamlet once said, "To restore or not restore, that's the question!"

I did talk to the owner about this, he's an advanced collector and knows the pros and cons. I believe the deciding factor was that the gun had been wiped with large amounts of cold blue, you can't really see that in the pictures but it was obvious when you looked at it in person. It even smelled like Birchwood Casey's Perma Blue, so we both agreed that that it would be better off restored.

Sometimes people ask my opinion whether to have their guns restored.
Originality isn't something that can be restored, as it's something delicate and unique, once lost it's gone forever and no wizard can't bring it back any more. Personally I prefer to own a truly original pistol in poor condition than one that's been expertly restored, as truly original pistols are getting really hard to find.
Perhaps he best candidates for a restoration, are guns that have already been messed up or permanently altered in some way, like it was in your case after all.