I won't be selling the bike anytime soon. Bigbossman is going to look it over, hopefully give me some pointers on cleaning and sources for its rehabilitation, and then probably advise me how much it could help him get that nice Masi. He did mention that if I left it with him for a while he may move to an undisclosed location forthwith........

If the gentleman knew the difference between silver and chrome I would've gotten a counter offer I'm sure, and he did note that it was nicely made because of the italian components. I don't believe I had any obligation to advise the gentleman about the bike at all. If he wanted to research it he would've done so previously. You're correct in noting that the gentleman didn't take care of it--it's pretty ratty looking. Hopefully it will clean up well, but if it doesn't it is what it is.

For the record, I don't ask thrift stores, garage sale or flea market sellers to change their original prices and charge me ebay or CL market value for items priced lower either.

I'm sure we could all talk at length about the semantics of how I obtained the bike. But perhaps that would be best done after someone explains what the opposite of caveat emptor is.