RockIsland 52 asked me a question in the Pre War American Flyer Pictures thread about the condition of the items in my collection. I thought it might be a good topic for a thread of its own. Please feel free to add comments about your own personal guidlines.### ### RockIsland52 wrote the following post at 07/30/2008 8:24 AM:### Hi Northwoods…you noted that you have a number of inherited pieces. You may have answered this before, so bear with me. It appears from your pictures over the course of this thread that you maintain the original (acquired) condition of your pieces, though I think you have also dabbled in repainting some of those that were deteriorating and could only be saved by restoration.### Since there is so much back and forth discussion on the CTT Forum about leave alone vs. touch up vs. complete restoration, I think your opinion might help a lot of folks struggling with this issue.### Hi Jack,### Its always good to hear from you. I think you have made the comment about the condition of items in my collection before, and your observations now are correct. I think that each individual sets their own standards for what condition the items that they collect will be. I know that over the years my standards have changed. When I first started collecting in S gauge I made the decision that I would collect items in operator quality; the main reason being that they were more affordable. I wasn’t rigid in that standard and I would buy some items that were in much better shape as long as I felt that I could afford them and I made a point to keep track of the selling prices of items so that I knew when an item w