Retouched cels

I've seen cels listed on Mandarake that are described as "paint retouched," or some such. Today I received a cel (not from Mandarake) of Ayanami Rei from Evangelion. The lighting on her hair did not match my screenshot, so I felt the front of the cel and found that indeed there had been paint added there.

So my question is this: why would someone want to retouch a cel in the first place? I'd think that would lower rather than increase the value, since it no longer matches the screen episode in which it was used.

I used to have a Faye cel from Bebop that I bought from Mandrake that was retouched. In my case, the cel was a correction for the shot. I guess someone decided that it looked better if you couldn't see her ear in the shot...

So far as your question goes, I have no idea why someone would want to paint over the top of a cel unless it was to cover up some damage. This is the only real reason I can think of to paint on the top of a cel...

My guess someone's trying to hide paint damage without actually restoring the cel. I've seen people try to fix line fading by using a magic marker on the outside of the cel. Very bad idea.

If the paint is on the outside of the cel, it probably can be removed and the cel restored properly.

I have had a lot of cels restored including every cel I've ever bought from Mandarake.

www.srlabs.com does a great job and the cel will look perfect afterwards, not restored, especially if it's animation that's using the tradition types/colors of paints.

Hello Doug,
If you are talking about the Rei(ep 6) cel on your site, I had a look at both the cel and your screen cap and I have found a few odd things that makes me think it maybe a fan cel or a remake of the first cel.
Let me start off with on the left shoulder and left collar bone there is no shadow like in the screen cap, Also if you follow the hair lines around the face they also do not match the screencap,I also saw on the left hand the small line in her hand does not match the screen cap.
I saw a few more non-matching lines so lay them side by side and check them out.I would need a bigger scan to tell you for sure.
If it's a fan cel it was nicely done and would still go for a nice sum.

Sometimes studios will retouch cels that are off color or missing colors and this is done on the front of cels and this is normal to every now and then find a cel that has paint on the front of it.
Some folks retouch cels to match screen caps if they are missing a overlay or underlay cel,This does devalue the cel if it is done very bad.

I hope your cel turns out to be real but there are alot of fan cels for that show floating around.

Good luck!
Roy

Thanks for all your responses. Some of the smaller differences could be attributable to things coming out differently on the screen, but it's certainly true that there are quite a few little things. I hadn't noticed the left hand line, but I did notice a difference in the contours at the top of the towel.

I know that Evangelion cels are a problem - in fact, I have another (the one of Misato's scar) that doesn't look right. (Someone else on rubberslug has a similar one too, with more correct shadows but the same errors in the scar.) Oddly enough, I checked the Rei listing on yahoo japan against the screenshot and thought they were pretty close (given the lack of resolution in my print of the listing), but for some reason missed the hair completely until after I had bid. Or maybe I should say "stupidly enough" instead of "oddly enough."

Well, cels are a constant source of education!