Received my ILR today:
1. Appearance: very light grey - completely uniform in color - no defects/inclusion.
2. Surface: as advertised - lapped flat, but not smoothed.
Easily/quickly finished with 150, 320, 600 grit shop roll - was all it needed - smooth as glass.
3. Honing: used without slurry - cut very fast, very smooth, and gave good tactile feedback.
Produced an absolutely outstanding edge - tree-topped forearm hair even before stropping.

Stone is soft - very much like light grey Eschers I have had, but cuts much faster - and probably smoother also.
Not at all like the hard Chinese 12K or purple Welsh slate.
Communicated with ebay vendor - stones are mined in the Imperia region of Italy.

Bottom line - outstanding stone at a great price.