As usual I'm late to the conversation, BUT I think you got a terrific bargain. There is nothing about this gun that can't be corrected if you choose.
I'm curious how you could call this gun a terrific bargain??? The only high points are that I assume the barrels have not been cut, and the engraving has not been obliterated. What would it cost, in addition to the $1700 already spent, to restock it in proper E grade level English walnut, strip the incorrect blue (assuming there is no damage to the solder joints), do a correct slow rust blue on both barrel sets, and other parts, then do a correct bone charcoal case hardening job, etc.?
Then when you added all of that up, how would it compare to the cost to purchase a high condition 2 barrel set E grade Lefever... that has not had collector value damaged by refinishing? An E grade is desirable, but it is not an Optimus.
With enough time and enough money, I suppose you could rebuild any jet airplane that crashed, so long as there were a few intact parts. But nobody even tries, and for good reason. There comes a point where enough damage is done that repairs no longer make economic sense.
I also do not think that duxdog would lose much money if he sold it now. There were 21 bids that drove it to where it sold, and numerous bidders who did not know or did not care that the description was totally inaccurate. If the solder joints do not fail, he can use it and probably lose no more value than if he bought a brand new shotgun. However, that might also involve using the same inaccurate description to gin up bidding interest. But if the solder joints fail, it could be a big money pit very quickly.
