I wonder if it's not actually a 1953.3. The picture is pretty bad and although it's in the description as 1955.3, the owner may have misread it. The "3" and "5" are very similar and it doesn't take much damage to make one look like the other. It happens pretty frequently with Soviet M91/30s. To see what I'm talking about look at the first barrel marking here: http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinM44EEC.htm
Bob, is that you? Any word on the books? I called a while back but you were laying brick or something.