I thought that at first, but then when I read the maker's comments, he said that he definitely wants this to be a limited piece and doesn't want to spend a ton

I thought that at first, but then when I read the maker's comments, he said that he definitely wants this to be a limited piece and doesn't want to spend a ton of time on making them, so the increased price (and thus barrier to entry) makes sense to me. If he priced them much lower and ended up with either extreme (one or two orders vs a hundred), it wouldn't be great for him.