In some circumstances, sure -- but look at what he paid for it, and the circumstances. This is already a victory.
sure, if you are looking for a 5 string guitar, when you paid for 6. Now a replacement tailpiece will cost extra money, not be orignal, and not necassarily be an exact match (chrome vs. nickel, etc). He paid a great price, sure, but that is if it shows up not damaged, and packaged in acceptable fashion. Maybe he still did pretty good, but that wasn't the deal...
If the seller said, "this is a great price, but it could show up damaged, and i'm only mailing it in the case from 1961 and no additional packaging," ...then it would be a fair deal