[Arran]

I am not sure what prices these set bring, but to have an artist duplicate the work on the set would not be cheap. I would be more inclined to clean it up and maybe have some touch up done. I would like to find one of these in good shape someday, but have not seen any over the years. A good artist should be able to touch up the cabinet and it should blend in very well. My mom was an artist and did some restorations on old paintings. It required mixing different colors to get the proper shade of the aged paint.

Actually it is probably easier to paint a replica then it is to touch up an original, as you mentioned you need to custom mix the paints just right so the repairs don't stand out against the old paint. If you were to take a 511, strip it, and repaint it to replicate a 512, 513, etc, then you would be starting with a blank "canvas" so to speak. There would be no need to exactly match colours or brush strokes since no two of the originals were the same to begin with. To me the flowers on most of those models remind me of the ones that tole painters make, several layers of replicated brush strokes to form leaves and flower pedals, making an acceptable facsimile should not be too difficult to someone artistically inclined.
With the 515 model, "The Impressionistic", was that a design that was offered from the factory? A prototype maybe? Or some type of one off that was special ordered?
Best Regards
Arran