I broke down and ordered one last night. I've spent the last few weeks trying to rationalize the cost but I finally gave in in a moment of weakness. The best I could come up with is to consider what I would be willing to pay for an actual screen used prop. Obviously, it is not but it is pretty much as close as we are going to get. I must also consider that they use skilled industry labor and at least part of the process is hand made. People in the prop community are not used to paying such a high price for skilled labor but this is a purchase direct from the production source. And the only other rational I could come up with is that I've got so much money siting with the other licensees (awaiting delayed product) that perhaps this is the necessary solution to overcome the issues we've experienced when the prop editions are trusted to cheaper large scale factories to mass replicate items that were never intended to be produced that way.
Of course, I would prefer to buy this for $900 and in the right licensee hands it would likely be profitable at that price. But, as always, I do want the quality and the lineage...and I also want it NOW. The unfortunate situation we are all faced with is that this extreme cost will make these items inaccessible to most of us and force the few of us that can afford some of these to make hard choices whereas we would have otherwise bought all of these items they're offering.
Please excuse my rambling...I spent $4,300 last night so I think this was my cathartic way of dealing with it. Now I'm going to go sell some of my props to help pay for this monster. ;-)
