Right, I paid $450 for one, and around $600 for the other. And they are both accurate. $1200.00 was what I was looking at for a repro T.D., or a High Wall in the same caliber. But back on topic, we have to remember the the small market, in comparison to modern cartridge guns, is what prices reproductions so high. The antique market is a whole other animal.
Set up time, as mentioned is a real biggie. When you spend $20,000 to set up to make a gun, that first gun off the line is worth $20,000.00, but you have to sell it close to $1,000. The more you sell, the sooner you come to making a profit, but you may not even be able to sell enough of them to ever make a profit.
So, I don't think Pedersoli, or anyone else, is gouging anyone, or selling way over what they could let them go for. It's just a very small market. When I hunt during a muzzle loading season, I never, and I mean never, see any other hunters with traditional guns. Almost never, I talked to one guy in the woods this year, that had a nice TC Hawken or something like that. But the last ten seasons? Nope. It's all inlines, I even ran into a guy, hunting with whom must have been his grandson, who was well over 90 years old, and he was packing an inline. If I ever run into another hunter with a flintlock, I won't believe my eyes. I won't know how to act. I may die of a heart attack. I might throw up with joy.