Warning: German directness incoming, you were warned !
When looking at ceramic or porcelain items one will notice that quite a few have been touched up or completely re-painted by hobbyists or decoration studios. While the latter often delivered quality work, that is not always to be expected. As with manufacturers, one of course had good and bad studios, and even good studio workers may have had a really bad day. On the other hand, there are indeed some exceptional examples of hobbyist work around; even cases in which a former hobbyist was later employed by a factory, based on their exceptional talent. In most cases, however, these hobbyist items are exactly what one would expect: badly executed efforts with wavy lines, crooked decor, bad gilding or weird color combinations.
No matter which result you are looking at, always hold in mind that many of these items (especially the hobbyist-decorated ones) are one-of-a-kind matters. Read as: no additional items, no replacements, nothing. Also, every form of studio or hobbyist alteration nullifies the provenance of an item; the typical "who made it and when ?" questions become irrelevant simply because the item in question is simply not original anymore. Even studio-redecorated items rarely manage to gather additional value based on the collectibility or reputation of the studio (e.g. US Pickard or German Josef Kuba).
Think about it this way: you buy a brand new Porsche and have your neighbor apply a nice layer of cold paint on it. He may even do a good job. But still: what happens to the value of your Porsche ? As you or your neighbor will hardly be a Keith Haring, Dali, or Picasso, you will have just ruined a pretty pricey automobile. So what makes you think that slapping paint on a lovely piece of Haviland or Meissen will hold or even increase a value ? And what could that mean for mass-produced items like Winterling or Rosenthal, or completely unmarked (no-name) blanks ? Well, they become absolutely worthless of course.
While studio-redecorated items may sometimes retain a fraction of the original item "value" or have a very small chance of actually increasing in value, based on who actually (re)decorated it. Hobbyist-decorated items next to always only hold a sentimental value, e.g. when it's an item decorated by a (former) family member. Sure, somebody could offer you a dollar or two as they like the color, shape, or have something similar. But otherwise there is nothing to be done with them; let them gather dust on a shelf or include them into your own arts & crafts projects.
P.S.: I was amused to see that some hobbyist-decorated items are even listed on replacements-dot-com, clearly showing that their "experts" have absolutely no idea what they are dealing with. Those items are unique, there is nothing around that can be added/replaced.
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