OK, I don't want to assume anything either... but here I go. You are talking about the woodgrain around the gauges???
If so, yours looks pretty darn nice, if you ask me.
No, there weren't different shades, but often it looks like the switch panel is a different color than the gauge side. I put new ones on my car 2 months ago, and in the picture they look different, even though they aren't in real life.
Mike