IMHO; 

I agree, the patent date tells it all…. It’s a “95” Favorite that had a make-over quite some time ago… Not saying it’s a fake but so many “artist’s” around today are doing great things. So much for the 800.00 offer!!!! 

Got to: Hold it, feel it, squeeze it and then make an offer….

Then there is the consideration of fake or fake. By that I mean, is it a gun made to decieve, or is it a gun made up to be like one that was desired, but not readilly available or affordable. Look at the market in this day and age, for accesories, new stocks, and other such stuff for new rifles. 
Just because ou could not get what you wanted from the factory, does not mean that you cannot have what you want!

While not original, the latter are still a good deal for the guy that wants a good lookin' shooter. I think it helps if it is a "known" rather than a "learned" issue with it's originality.

I am certain that there are guys around with a hoard of small parts and actions as someday projects. I am pretty sure this is not a new thing, either.

In the case of this particular gun, it would be  reasonable thing, to get it into the hands of a person that was able to properly evaluate it, I think, or at least, get some more details to have on hand for a potential buyer to be able to assess the gun on it's own merits.

It's a good looking piece. Value, is going to be different for the folks that are interested in it for different reasons, whether it was wanted as a collector, a shooter, or as a parts source for a restoration of another gun, I suppose.

 Cheers
 Trev

To add even more confusion to an already confusing Stevens line. In the early pre-Savage days, a customer could special order just about anything he wanted from Stevens. Any type of lever, checkering, barrel contour, stock, buttplate, or whatever....as long as it fit the frame size requested.
This makes a number of Stevens rifles almost impossible to categorize as to what model they are. A gun with a cheekpiece as std. could be ordered without the cheekpiece, or a model w/o a cheekpiece could be ordered with one! 
It's neat to see the various "one of a kind" rifles that Stevens put out, but it really makes the collectors who like everything neat and catalogued, just a little nuts!
Stevens was also one of the few big gunmakers who would gladly wor on other maker's guns! We see a lot of Winchester and Ballard single shot rifles with Stevens markings on the barrel, and even Stevens case colors and stock styles. They would completely rebuild any gun, if the customer wanted them to, and had the money!