I am often asked why a miniature and especially why artisan crafted miniature items cost so much. It's hard to reconcile price against how much you are getting.  There are many reasons but I will only highlight a few of them here.

Scale:  In 1 inch scale every 12 inches equals 1 inch in miniature.  In 1/2 inch scale 1 inch represents 24 inches.  As an example,  I was making some shoe boxes and they were 1 inch by 1 1/2 inches.  That is equal to 12 inches and 16 inches. It's harder to make small items and especially to make them detailed and accurate.

Labor: Let's go back to the shoe boxes.  All I had to do was make a template and then cut out the pieces, fold them, and glue them.  It sounds so easy.  Because minis are so small it takes much longer to make a mini than it does a real sized shoe box.  Each piece has to be cut, folded, and pasted.  Let's say that it takes 20 minutes to make a life sized shoe box by hand.  It can take more than 1 hour to create a miniature shoe box. The labor is extensive and the end product is much smaller.

Creativity:  On ebay we are so very lucky to have extremely talented miniaturists who create their own items and sell them. Each one of these items has been hand made by the artists and there really is only one of a kind (OOAK). Their work is outstanding and the price is equal to or less than the labor and imagination it takes to make a miniature.It can be hard to see a high price but it is worth it.

There is lots more to say on this topic but I am going to stop here.  Just remember if it is smaller, it is harder to make and more expensive.

Thanks for reading this.