Think we can all agree the handle has been modified. The indexing dimples are the most obvious butchery, but as the OP pointed out, the contour of the handle has been modded too. I'd assume that was done to make the knife easier to open by fully exposing the Spyderhole. At least that's why I did a similar mod to a regular FRN C41.
However, I still think the knife did start out as a legitimate BladeForums Native. The engraving in at least one of the pictures looks identical to that on mine, and the steel, blue nail polish coated clip, and bright steel barrel bolt are correct for a BF Native. They were all engraved "1 of 300", not individually numbered in an "nnn of 300" format like some of the other Spyderco Forum and BladeForums Spyderco Forum knives, so that too is correct. The G-10 handle may show some signs of smoothing, either from pocket carry or sanding, since some folks do that to G-10 as well, but I'd say it most certainly is Spyderco's blue G-10.
So, for me at least, the only remaining question is "worth". Again I think we can all agree that "collector value" is out the window. But it's still a G-10 Native, something folks have expressed a desire for, and the mods, while not attractive, probably don't interfere with usability, so it has to be worth "something". Considering that even without the mods, the seller noting that the knife had been carried, used, and sharpened alone should have killed collector interest, I don't really view the listing as a "rip off".
Paul
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