How does restoration affect value?

[Stars]

I know rehairs have different values to different people but I was wondering about restoration like replacing tail washers and flutter wings or eye gems for G2. How do these kind of restoration work affect a pony's value? Would people pay more for a pony with terrible rust but an original washer over one with a cable tie and rust free tail? Just curious to know the community's opinions

[Stormness_1]

I know when I sold my Nightglider with her washer replaced by a zip-tie (fully disclosed in the listing), she sold for normal price, but she's pretty sought after. A more common pony might sell for slightly more original, but for a higher priced one, if you can't tell, I wouldn't think the tail washer would effect price unless you were super picky.

[hathorcat]

Its not really something you can quantify unfortunately. Its going to depend on the degree of the restoration, how much of the pony has been restored, how poor the condition was originally, what exactly has been restored, whether that restoration is visible in any way, which pony it is. And its even going to come down to individual collectors as different people will devalue by different amounts.

[Artemesia's Garden]

It's really personal. For me, if you can't tell I don't mind but I have a very picky eye! Just thinking, I only like ponies with an original clamp but don't mind if the washer has been replaced as long as there is no damage to the neck-seam.

[reanna-mator]

In the case of the tail washer, I would much rather the replacement than the original washer, with rust. As long as the restoration is well done and especially if the pony is harder to come by normally, it's not a big deal to me.

Still, the less things that are original (especially things like rehairs and repainted symbols) I will probably be expecting to pay a bit less. The good news is that if the pony really needed restoration you will probably get more for a restored pony than the same pony in poor condition.

[cloud_weaver]

Restoration is, as others have said, a case by case valuation.  I had a Mimic who was, at one point in time, a kitty's chew toy and she had small puncture wounds to her front hoof and a damaged horn.  I sent her to a customizer for restoration (clay resculpt) and she turned out absolutely love!  The original damage was almost unidentifiable.  And I was still able to sell her fairly easily to a less-picky collector for about $70 (when her value was holding at about $100 even). 

Really what it comes down to is, how bad is the original damage?  Is the restoration worth doing, or would she be better left in original condition w/minor flaws?  (Some collectors, me included, find restoration an undesirable trait in their collection and would prefer the ponies be left in the unrestored state.)  Were original MLP parts used for replacement or were replicas used?  <-----that is a make or break deal for me.  I don't mind if a pony has been retailed with a replacement tail from a donor, but if it's Dollyhair, I will not accept it in my collection.

Just some things to think about!  Hope that helps. 

[Elisto]

As others have said, it really depends on the individual person as well as the pony, although I do think in the case of rusty tail washers, it's going to be rare to find a collector who would pay more for a rusty one than a replaced/removed one. Even there, though I'm weird about the clamp; I only replace it if that too is rusty, so I'd rather have one intact.

Personally, other than removing rusty washers, I only restore ones I plan to keep, but my general feeling is that replacing outright missing things (like eye gems, tails) shouldn't usually hurt the value, especially if using a donor, because they can always be removed. However, altering things that are still there (like removing and replacing cut/frizzy hair, repairing holes, repainting) really depends.