You've raised good points that I've responded to in your letter: ----- Original Message ----- From: Choic4guys@aol.com To: candichat@dolls.de Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 11:28 AM Subject: Re: Veronique & Adele/doll jointing

Some people do not like to hear of people removing face paint or

"damaging" a

doll's original features. I think these people think of the original dolls

as

"art" and they feel as though somebody is damaging "art".

I've thought about this and have wondered would an art collector go to the trouble of taking any original art work and remove part of the paint on the canvas to add their touches to the art? If the piece is one-of-a-kind, and at any price, no, I highly doubt a person would buy that art only to reinterpret that artist's work. Why bother buying the art if you don't like the artist's work?

In reality, if something is mass produced then it is not truly a piece of

art

(in the true sense of the word).

Here may be what separates an artist's original piece's value from reproduction numbers. What does one consider mass produced? I don't know what is the official number for dolls to be considered mass produced. Also, there is definitely a difference from a doll collector and a doll makeover artist and their purposes for buying a doll.

There was a first fashion doll convention in Dallas recently and I understand Jim Faraone was going to be there to judge the makeover categories. Does anyone know what the rules and standards for judging the makeover dolls were?

If you are a collector who likes to keep their doll original the just think, the more people who turn that doll into an OOAK

the

less there will be in original condition and perhaps she will become

harder

to find.

Oh! I can hope so!!!

I cringe to think there are people who repaint Tonner's Sydneys, but I do like to see what makeover artists do with Genes. I like the first 4 Genes and the original concept, but find the blue eyes boring afterwards. So eventually, the dolls seem almost like blank canvases to me, waiting for new ideas to be painted. Also, there are so many blue-eyed Genes, that I'm not worried about a shortage. And, too, Genes without costumes sell for about $30. That's a lot more affordable to repaint than a Sydney or a CED--unless you're really, really good at repainting.

Being one who missed out on the Silkstone Lingerie #1 and #2 I always remember all the OOAK dolls I used to see done out of them and the dolls

in

good condition are commanding around $250 now. I truly wonder if any

people

regret transforming their Silkstones now.

I would wonder, too, Randall. I would wonder, too. Pat