You want your wood whole or processed? That's an easy decision for me.
Get the REAL wood.
I don't really like Richards patterns so I've never done buisiness with them, I've been told they "under grade" their wood so a piece of AA should be really nice. My favorites when it comes to wood are CA. English, Turkish then Claro. I like Bastogne walnut too but so much of it is really Claro and sold as Bastogne.
You might want to try to solicit a picture from somebody that has a Richards Micro-fit Old Classic #102 style stock. I've seen one in person before and it looks nothing like the picture.
On the checkering I've used
Ahlmans.com They have a pattern not pictured. It's a Ruger #1 pattern they'll do for $125. I had this pattern done on the rifle pictured below and I really like it. These are fast, but not custom. You have to pick what they have and be happy with it.
If you want something a little more custom and have some input on what it'll look like,
Sherry Abraham might be the way to go. I've used her twice and she does very nice work. It cost a little more and takes a little longer, but if you can dream it up, she'll do it.
I've heard Bill Soverns and Jim Kobe do very good checkering jobs too, but I've never used them.
Here is a picture of Alhams $125 Ruger#1 checkering pattern on a Claro stock. I know you guy's have seen this one a lot. I'm very proud of it.
9.3X62 M98 Mauser
Here is some of Sherry Abrahams Checkering on a nice piece of Ca. English.
.300H&H M70 Winchester
Here is some fine line Checkering Sherry did for me on a pretty piece of French walnut.
.257WSM (wildcat) 700 Remington
Hope this helps.
Terry