I just bought the sneaky pete this morning from a friend, im not sure how old it is, but it has an older style finish with a micarta ring at the joint of the butt and a ring at the joint of the two shafts that it came with. It is also has the jump stick conversion. I payed 175 for the cue.
My cue from Al has no "hard finish" to it. He may have hand rubbed some oil or wax based sealer on it but I am not sure. Sound like you got a fair deal to me at 175.00