As to the point about restoration, this debate as to restore or leave it as is seems to come up all the time. Its interesting to note that classic cars are almost always restored back to original, or in many cases far better than original. No one ever shows any interest in a car in poor condition unless its its the first one of that model ever made etc. then everyone is interested. But even they get restored. If however its in poor condition, very few people leave it that way but have it fully restored. The same goes with Vintage Wrist watches which are restored back to original condition. Same with Vintage furniture or Radio's, as well as many other things. All of these items also have a story to tell but when it comes to guns there is definitely a camp that says to leave it untouched.

Personally if the gun is in poor condition I prefer to see them restored sympathetically which is actually quite difficult to do correctly. If the gun is used but in excellent condition then I would leave it as is.

IMHO, Matt.