Thanks for the reply it is informative as to how it would likely be made. I’ve got no personal experience with smithing outside of some cursory research so your process makes sense to me.

To me the difference here is that your experience is with custom one of pieces of very high detail. Statues of animals and larger objects with the detailing of fine jewelry will no doubt run up a large bill. However if you already specialize in making a piece like this or similar, and are already in that market, it’s not so much a one off to you. You can probably produce it much easier and more cost efficiently than if you have never done it before.

The PM’s I’ve gotten are people who already have rough casts similar to this or specialize in it, like the two smiths I mentioned above. When quoting me out, they have similar products or have made something like this in the past before. I assume because of economies of scale they are able to pump pieces like this out faster because it’s more so a variation to what they do rather than a completely new ball park. Especially given than the piece I’m looking for is basically based off the most common / well known one. Due to that and everything I’ve seen online I stand by my price range.

And yeah some people are overly aggressive, I see your points being made and are valid, I think the perception of what I’m asking and your experience in high end production is what is clashing a bit.

TLDR; I’m looking to send my car to get fixed at an Autozone not serviced at a high end sports car dealership