I think everyone who ever bought an instrument, especially a new one, once had this feeling when bumping their precious shiny into something. That moment for me with my current instrument was at school where an ill-placed chair made acquaintance with the side of the bottom bow, resulting in a a tiny, shallow dent. I sucks big time of course, but you get over it.
A good thing to remember is that musical instruments are tools in the end, made to be used. While some of them are pieces of art no doubt, in the end they are made to be played. In my case, I play mine every day for multiple hours most of time so it is only realistic that my instrument will pick up some signs of use over time. Of course, a responsible person will try to take care of their gear and so do I. It's like buying a car or a smartphone where you know that one day, hopefully a long time from then, it will pick up a scratch and a dent.
Once in a while, you come across an older instrument in a very good to pristine condition. Most of the time, that will be because the horn was rarely used and when used, was taken good care of. People like John who use their horns a lot more and still manage to keep it as-new as possible are a much rarer breed. A used instrument that was made decades ago that shows a couple of incidental dents is in my regards still a solid, good condition horn. Dents and other signs of use tell that the instrument is a player and was used to what it was supposed to do.
Music educator - Brass Instruments Enthusiast - Euphonium Player
2019 Besson Sovereign 967T-2 - Alliance DC3