I'll start by standing by Robin on the ugly dog turd brown pastels. I've seen some pastels that are as brown as as a dark normal. That to me is an ugly pastel. Robin stated her pastel is an 07 and has posted pics of him. That animal is at least 2 years old. My pastel is from July of 08, right over 18 months now.
When I got into this hobby, I got my Pastel from Albey. Then, I shopped on KS and other websites for what I had the money for at the time, then after talking to Albey about this concept, it dawned on me. Better looking animals for the most part, cost more and make better looking babies. 4 of my 5 snakes have come from Albey, since when I was shopping for my animals, he had the best examples of the morphs I was looking for. Sure they may have cost me a bit extra, but they were what I wanted.
On your statement about coats, I believe that you are comparing apples to oranges. Material goods are different from animals. I do think that people that have the best animals in looks
AND health can charge a premium, because that's what the people who are truly serious about that hobby want. If that's not worth it to you, or you want to charge a lower price for a premium animal, then that's your prerogative.
With your statement that all animals will brown out unless crossed with a clean up gene. I really can't say anything, because it depends on your definition of brown out. My pastel at 1400+ g is still yellow. A bit more tan than he was at 120 g, but his yellow is still prominent.
A little story...
I went to the Columbia repticon show...Spring of last year. I was looking at this table and a guy had a good looking Caramel. All of his pastels were BROWN and they were still small(200-300 g). I told him that I wish I had the money to purchase the Caramel, but that I was paying off a Pewter. He asked what I paid for it and I told him $1500. He claimed I was getting ripped off. Then I told him that it was from March of 08 and was almost 700 g. He still claimed a rip. I respectfully disagreed and walked off. This pewter was worth the $ to me because I knew that it was a fantastic looking animal and was eating well.
The moral of the story is, if you don't want to get quality animals, then don't pay for them. Pay that $50 for a Wild Type looking Pastel, but don't complain when I tell you that I don't think it looks good.
Pictures of the 2 snakes of mine that I mentioned.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...e/100_0307.jpg
