I'm not noticing the difference...is it just me? When I go back in my pics from January and March, I don't see anything different from what's in that link.
In January when I went to MK, it was a rainy day, and very grey. I did snap a pic of Partners that day:
The gold (actually, I'm thinking brass), parts are there, and have been for some time. I dug back through my pictures to March 2002, and the separate color brass parts are there.
What it seems like to me is that they polished up the brass parts, so they really stand out as they probably did when the statue was new. They had become tarnished and had that 'patine' look that made the brassy bits blend better with the rest of the statue, but if polished, they would jump out a bit more.
In March...though this is a night shot...I think you can noticeably see how much the brass looks polished and shiny under the lights:
which more closely resembles the shot in the link above.
If I'm not seeing it, or it's something else, let me know! But that's my theory...a little polish made it stand out, but likely nothing was changed.