We were impressed with the way that the block came packaged, apart from one aspect.  The base of the block was unprotected, the surface resting on the bottom of the cardboard box.  For a water block that is supposed to be lapped to over 1200 grit, this really surprised us.

Taking the block out of the box and looking at the bottom, our fears were confirmed.  The base was scratched in multiple places and there was even a tiny dent, like someone had hit the block on the corner of a sharp object (manufacturing problem?  Circled in red).

It certainly wasn't lapped to past 1200, it looked more like it had been lapped with around 200 grit. Obviously we wanted to remedy this situation, so we got out the wet/dry and lapped it to 600 grit.  Going any further than 600 grit isn’t really necessary as going any higher proves to have very little benefit.

During the lapping process

Final results