Re:Pricing niche products
by mud_dauber on Friday October 04, 2019 @06:13PM
(#21162359)
Funny... my wife avoids status-chasing like the plague, yet giggled like a 12YO when she found her grandmother's ancient iron frying pan. She swears it is the best tool for the job, despite the fact that we have 3 others. Well-seasoned, indeed.
I think cast iron frying pans are an even more emblematic example of what you're describing. It's a four thousand year old product with no moving parts that's long been mastered, but over the past 15 years they've transitioned into a hobby item with ever-more-expensive niche vendors (Finex, Butter Pat, etc.) selling increasingly souped up versions that fry an egg almost indistinguishably from a basic, well-seasoned model.
Meanwhile there's another subset of hobbyists chasing esoteric vintage cast iron frying pans, often claiming the modern ones can never be as good.