Bear hide color change

Just looking for some opinions from you pros.

I killed a nice, thick, chocolate haired black bear and I gave it to the taxi for a rug the day it was killed. Fast forward 2.5 years (long story) and I finally got a couple pics of the almost finished product and right off the bat I noticed the muzzle is much much lighter in color (the rest of the head looks like the right shade). The only pics I got were of the head so I'm unsure what the rest of the hide looks like.
So I guess my question is how much can a hide lighten up during the washing/degreasing/tanning process? I'm assuming bears can carry quite a bit of dirt in their hides?
Another question is how well can you guys hide a hole in the muzzle? Another long story...things got a little western.
I'm supposed to finally see the rug in person within the next two weeks (fingers crossed) and I will take some harvest photos with me.

Thanks.

My experience is the 'real color' wont change, however, the lighting conditions can make the color of bears look a LOT different. For example, shady versus full son, flash versus natural light, indoor lighting versus outdoor. See it in person before you get too worried.

Thank you for you're input. I've done plenty of buisness with this taxidermist in the past and that's the scenario I was hoping for but....
The bear was shipped to me and immediately upon opening the package I knew something was wrong for multiple reasons. I called/texted/emailed my taxi and demanded to know what was going on and after nearly 3 years of "it's fine, I'm almost done", the whole truth was spilled. In the end I got a f&(@):ing Frankenstein bear and I'm now trying to get my money back. I'll never kill another first bear so I'm pretty pissed!

Thanks again.