As you know, that's always one of the considerations when restoring a firearm or any other antique. Generally I don't mind leaving some "distressing" because at the end I still want it to look like a 100+ year old rifle. I guess if I was restoring it to deceive I would take a different approach. With all the great craftsmen like you around right now I know a firearm can be made to look factory new. A number of years ago Dave Norin complained bitterly that a customer of his sold 2 spectacular High Walls through an auction house and allowed them to be described as "mint". Dave didn't see the catalog until a year after the fact. He immediately bought a stamp to mark his work so it would never happen again and has refused to do any other work for that person. Normally I would never restore a firearm, but in this case the heavy hand of a "bubba" required it.
