My Turn .... My Turn .... My Turn .... Can I can I Huh!!
I agree with St George, but for entirely different reasons. First, a Caveat >>>> When I started playing this CAS game, you could drop into any Gun Show and pick up as many real nice '97s as you wanted for between 75 and a Hundred bucks. "As New" guns went for about a Hundred and a quarter. NOBODY was collecting '97s. There were somewhere around a Million and a Half '97s manufactured. There are probably somewhere around a million of them in the back corner of a lot of closets. The current "value" of '97s is driven by the CAS crowd. We're the only market. So the prices are artificially inflated. Collector Schmolector. It doesn't matter if you have it re-blued.
EXCEPT!!!!
Many shops will take the liberty of taking out every nick and ding. With a file. No matter how THIN it makes that area of the barrel. Then with a buffer, every corner, every number, every edge will be buffed away to "Polish" it prior to the bluing tank. You just exercise EXTREME caution selecting someone to re-blue. '97s are old guns. The nicks and dings give character. First and foremost, make the old gun mechanically sound and shootable. Re-chamber, longer forcing cone, nice crisp crown and a Door Knob front bede. Some nice wood. Not presentation grade wood, even nice used wood. Then LEAVE THE METAL ALONE.
I've been working on CAS guns for over 20 years. Lost count of the guns refinished to ruin. Shoot and enjoy the old Blunderbus and don't worry about dropping a new blue job on the table. Those refinished '97s for the movie only had to shoot blanks. They weren't subject to match after match after match of use. Think about it.
Coffinmaker