Gremlins 2: Miniature Puppet

I've been away from the rpf for a while, but I return once again to mess around with your ever delicious brains.
I'm super excited to have picked up this little gem. For quite a fair price too, I believe. I've seen a few of these floating around the interwebs in other people's collections, but I'm over the moon to have my own now. Not to mention my first real prop too.
A miniature gremlin puppet used in one of the last scenes of Gremlins 2. I believe it's from the scene where they're all gathered in the lobby partying, then getting electrocuted by the loose electric gremlin. For a small puppet, he's surprisingly detailed, but for something that's now 22 years old, he's also aging somewhat unhealthily. The structure is still soft and in good shape, but the paint is flaking quite badly.
Ultimately, I'm going to display him, but as always, I'm going to turn to you good folk for some advice.
In your opinions, when it comes to something old like this, is it sacrilege to look at 'fixing' it, or is it ok to touch it up and restore it to its former glory?
Currently, it's dressed in some daggy looking party clothes with a little hat and the paint is peeling away like there's no tomorrow. What I'd really like to do is, take the clothes off, refinish the paintwork (possibly in better detail still) and display him without his clothes. Of course, I wouldn't discard the clothes, just not dress him in them.
Would this ruin his worth as a prop? Or is there no set rule on this? I'd never have any intention of disgracing the history of any piece of art, but it's something I'd want to be very careful about.
I eagerly await your opinions.
Cheers - Chris

Photos are only some quick ones from my phone, but I'll take something better later.

SPS said:

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What I'd really like to do is, take the clothes off, refinish the paintwork (possibly in better detail still) and display him without his clothes. Of course, I wouldn't discard the clothes, just not dress him in them.

Ii think this as been discussed a few times. But at the end of the day its your call. If your going to keep it then its not bother, but if your going to sell it; it might devalue it slightly. But I think you've answered you own question in the quote above as you really want to do it!

I wouldn't consider it a disgrace. Lets put it this way if some brought a Captain America shield in 30 years and the paint had faded and was flaking off, I would imagine most people would restore it to its screen used glory.

But if you do get it done get it done probably and do justice for the prop

But good luck with whatever you decide

I would leave it. It looks good to me

for a little inspiration check out the work these guys did on some gremlins its outstanding what they achieved HERE

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I'm not completely decided yet on what I'll do, but for now at least, I've taken some better photos. From looking around at other examples of this puppet on the webs, I'm impressed with the condition of this little dude. Very pleased
I've carefully removed the clothes to inspect the puppet further, and I'm pleasantly surprised by the condition of the model. There's more or less no paint left under the clothes and as mentioned, what little that is left anywhere else has just about disappeared, but I'll have a good think before I go ahead with any potential restoration. I also carefully removed a small amount of glue from his right foot that must have been used to keep him in place during filming.
You'll notice the manky left hand. That's something I'll definitely get fixed up. Must be from being stored recklessly is my best guess.
I'm also thinking about maybe making some duplicates, for personal use or whatever, but it's just an idea I'm toying with. I wouldn't dare make a mold of this, but I've been reading up on that fancy 3D scanning and printing people are doing now. See what happens...

Anyhow, here's some better photos:

Pobbrett said:

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for a little inspiration check out the work these guys did on some gremlins its outstanding what they achieved HERE

And yes, I've seen a few examples of the work they do on these forums and it's nothing short of incredible!

What a awesome little dude! Congrats!