[Butz]

Except there are already items out there that are simply recolors of existing items. (Arabic Sword + Blood Sabre, Sun Shield + another shield, different broadswords, the different bronze, silver, and gold helmets and armors, etc)

So although you might like to be able to dye them to whatever color you want, it's not really a good idea, since you could offer one item as another if someone isn't paying attention closely enough.

Also, I'd imagine it'd be a bit of a nuisance to implement, since each item is more than likely just referencing back to the mudlib to see what graphic it should use, rather than storing that information on each instance of the item (at least, it makes sense from a space issue to do that)