Bob,
"It depends!" The Confederate service records and pension files are "generally" on microfilm, so we do not produce images or copies from the original documents. Union pension records are NOT microfilmed, so we can provide color copies of the original documents. In fact, almost all of the Union records we provide are sent to me electronically as color files and I then "batch" convert them to gray-scale, high contrast images for printing.
Bob, if I can get my hands on the original documents from the National Archives, we could produce a color image of the original document.
I'll check with my NARA guy and get back to you.
Most of our Confederate records are processed by a gentleman named Alan Pitts in Birmingham, AL. If we can't get to the original documents for your veteran, I'll ask Alan what he thinks he can do with the microfilm image.
If you or others would like to see what one of these color files looks like, here is a link to the first part of a CMSR file for a David Armstrong of the 6th Illinois Cavalry (US).
Jim