Every time the discussion of value comes up, I hardly ever find mention of a few, important factors.
1. Experience - How can you put a value on that? At the very least, the monetary value of the experience of a turner would be the out of pocket costs for everything that the turner has purchased and produced since day one! Some of the folks here (Ed, raise your hand...) have turned thousands of pens. I've turned less than one hundred. Even if you gave both of us the same materials, you would be VERY unlikely to get two pens of equal quality and craftsmanship. I'm not saying I make junk, as I do the very best work I can do. But I don't have the experience that Ed does, and it will take me thousands of pens to get there. (I'm gaining' on ya, Ed!)
2. R&D - Some of the nicest, custom blanks I've ever seen we made from very inexpensive materials. But the development behind it could only be described as a labor of love. Bruce's circuit board pens are a great example. Sure, the PC boards are cheap (I've sent him some for free!), but the time and material cost isn't. I can't imagine how many tries it took to get it right, and even after that, what the failure rate is. I know some cast blanks, especially snake skin, have HUGE failure rates.
3. History/Name Recognition - Even as subjective as this one is, I still think that pedigree has a value. Would I pay top dollar for a blank from Eagle? Hell, yeah! I wouldn't care if it was made from cork and pipe cleaners, as long as it looked good, the pedigree alone would give me a warm fuzzy!
So that's my two nickel's worth. Yes, two nickels. Even my time is worth something. :wink: