The interesting thing to me (and the reason for my post) is that no one else has apparently encountered this.

Well, it may well have done it under SR3, too. But I wasn't a crazy prop spawning fanatic until recently, so I wouldn't have noticed. Is it, in fact, the gamma that's off? Or something else in the mat? I can't tell what it is.  I described the problem and attached an image.  According to the mat window the new prop's material is exactly the same as the object it was created from.  Yet in the viewport it looks nothing the object which it was created from; it is just black.  (Compare the objects outlined in red in both pictures) 

Again, it renders fine.  But it's almost impossible to see against the black bg of the scene.  It's a minor issue as I can manually copy the materials and fix its appearance, but a PITA nonetheless.

I'm just waiting for one person to say it has happened to them also, even once.   

Also, what's up with this big font?  How can I make it smaller?  And where are the quotes?  My responses aren't being visibly separated from the quoted text.