My first Bal was a Marron Twiggy that came to me more damaged than I thought.
In the listing, the bag's corner piping was actually 'painted' over... giving the impression that the corners were fine when the piping was actually showing. After I used it twice, the paint wore off and the white piping was exposed--I was furious!
Plus, the main zipper was completely replaced by a new zipper because the previous owner damaged the original, a fact casually omitted from the listing. Worse still, the tassels were falling apart. Like literally. It was beautiful but in need of so much repair. I missed all these details because I got too excited about the colour... but I couldn't return it because I'm located in Asia, and it was shipped from the US. Well, lesson learnt!
I spent a good deal on repair (fixed the piping + handles, redyed it because the leather had discoloured, ordered tassels from Bal NY with huge shipping cost etc) and it cost me so much money that it was almost more worthwhile if I got a whole new bag. That said, even redyeing can't take away the luxurious feel of chevre leather... I love the bag now, but imagine if the restoration didn't work out and I hated it. All that money wasted. I'm not against restoring old bags, in fact I think it's great and should be done for chevre Bals, but make sure it's just one thing that needs work, and not everything. I agree with Catash when she says major fading is the dealbreaker, unless it's a Dolma or another colour that looks even better faded. Because you can fix everything else, but the colour is what draws you to the bag in the first place!
That said, nothing beats great restoration work and I just have to share her once more.
Once Marron and now completely something else, the leather is just fantastic. I don't want to buy anything but chevre now