Goes to show you that you can ask any amount of money for engraving, however, the actual amount you may realize may be far from the asking price! It's just a bit over priced. It should be $11,499.95. Lol
I think someone read somewhere that the "master" engravers charge triple digits per hour and their friend or mom told they were a master and they charged accordingly. They were also a bit slow at completing the work.
My guess is that the guy who posted this may have already learned a bit about the pricing... even if he never finds out for certain who engraved it...?
I worked for manufacturers which triple the cost of my work to their customer, 30% to 100% markup is not unusual. At some point engraving is a commodity which is to say that the value of a final product is what clients are willing to pay regardless of the quality of the of the work. Anyone can do a good Nimschke scroll but only an original will command a high plus value.
Using bench mark formula to price engraving is risky unless they have a no complete clause which I really can't see free lance engravers doing unless they keep that engraver very very busy. Some of the Colt Master might sign such a contract or someone like Phil Coggan, Marcus or Ken Hunt or Tony Galanza (sp).This was obviously done by someone of lesser skill or a famous engraver early in their career Who might pay a lot to get it off the market. Fred