I’ve had this gun for many years, sitting in the back of the safe.  One of those I’ll get around to figuring out what to do with it someday projects. It’s a WWI 97 trench, that someone removed the heat shield, installed a bead, varnished the stock and added a recoil pad, and reblued it, removing any military receiver markings it originally had. I’ve come to understand that quite a few 97’s ended up being butchered like this one, sometimes by police departments, and that’s where it came from, in a blind auction. I’ve had other monstrosities before, bumper shop chromed pre war S&W’s, reblued early 1911’s, etc., but this one probably bothered me the most, which is why I’ve hung onto it all these years. The gun is complete and functional, actually pretty nice and tight mechanically, and it’s an early one, E687XXX serial number.

So….. what would you do with it? Spend a couple grand plus to try and “restore” it?  Sell it to someone else that wants to try? I realize there’s really no good answer, I just thought I’d seek solace from fellow collectors if nothing else.