Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/13

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Subject: [Leica] Re: M8's high price
From: hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (G Hopkinson)
Date: Sat Jan 13 16:44:56 2007
References: <200701130610.l0D69cSs040789@server1.waverley.reid.org> <92E932C5-2E1A-4E48-A0D9-03D2207DBC45@optonline.net>

Larry, that's insightful regarding art works. A good friend of mine who was 
very talented but had sold little was told at a US
artists' enclave that he needed to double his prices as well as address 
marketing and promotion. He became much more successful.
Following the idea further, after his very untimely death, the values shot 
up sharply.
No doubt there is an element of scarcity, perceived luxury goods etc 
influencing the Leica prices. However it would be unfair to
disregard the designs, materials, small volumes and labour intensive 
processes that really separate Leica lenses, for example from
mass produced designs. Whether the photographer considers that the 
difference is worth the money, of course, is another issue.
Plenty of us think so or we wouldn't be here! 
Cheers
Hoppy

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org 
[mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Lawrence Zeitlin
Sent: Sunday, 14 January 2007 01:28
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: [Leica] Re: M8's high price

A Leica fable re the price of the M8. (and Rolex watches, Mont Blanc  
pens, and all cosmetic products.)

We have a friend, a dealer in modern paintings in New York's trendy  
uptown art market, who is a firm believer in negative price  
elasticity. Since it is almost impossible to tell the absolute  
artistic merit of a contemporary painting, most of her customers use  
price as a surrogate cue to quality. "You get what you pay for" seems  
to be the mantra of the affluent customers who patronize her studio.  
When a painting doesn't sell after a reasonable amount of time, she  
raises its price by several thousand dollars. A customer, returning  
to the studio, notices that the painting is now more expensive than  
it was on the last visit, concludes that the painting must be worth  
having since the price is going up. Out comes the checkbook and the  
painting changes hands before the price increases again. The dealer  
makes a nice profit. The customer hangs the painting on the living  
room wall, confident that everyone will admire his/her good taste.  
"It costs more but I'm worth it."

The painting may be a piece of crap but it doesn't matter. Everyone  
is happy.

Larry Z 

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Replies: Reply from rdandcb at home.netspeed.com.au (Rick Dykstra) ([Leica] Re: M8's high price)
In reply to: Message from lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin) ([Leica] Re: M8's high price)