Actually, your both partially right. It has 2009 crowns and stanchions, 2009 RC3 damper, 2011 lowers and 2011 spring kit. They probably used a new old stock preload knob so it wouldnt look weird.
Still an awesome fork, and if you knew the deal he got on it you would be jealous muchly.
I guess its settled then haha! its going to ride as good as any other rc3 but it you wont see anyone else with one that looks the same! Thumbs up for rc3s with nickel stanchions!
theres an on going dispute right now as to what exactly the year the damper is. it feels great and all, but i cant really tell for sure until i take apart.
All you could tell by taking it apart is whether its has pre 2010 internals or not. In the 888 series, all that really changed between 2010 and 2011 was the stickers and knobs (and personally I like the 2010 knobs more lol). So whether or not its 2010 or 2011 inside doesn't make a difference, the damper remained identical.
were trying to see exactly that. Since it was a ATA at one point, Greg thinks that the damper mightve still been the same and that the air sprung side was changed to coil, so taking it apart we might be able to tell if its an 09 RC3 damper, which wouldn't be a complete letdown. although itd be nice to have a more current damper. We also are seeing whether or not the lowers are 09 or 11, though the guy claims they are 2011, but i cant see a difference between those two model years.
works great, very plush and sensitive. Still needs to be taken on the trails to get properly set up, but so far so good. Really satisfied so far, its a whole different fork than my previous Shiver.
Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada 
Still an awesome fork, and if you knew the deal he got on it you would be jealous muchly.