It's not in the materials. You can get 50 pounds of clay around the $20.00 mark. That's a lot of shaving bowls. Glaze by the pint isn't very expensive and would cover a lot of bowls. Unless the potter has their own kiln, firing the bowl is probably the greatest expense in producing a finished bowl. I did a quick search to get an idea of cost and found a place that would charge $5.90 to fire a simple bowl measuring 4-1/2" wide and 2" high.
The way I see it is people are charging so much for hand made shaving bowls because they are somewhat labor intensive. They have to form the bowl on a wheel, let it dry-not too fast, they glaze it and let it dry and then they have to fire it. Granted, a lot of that is down time but it takes days if not a week or more to produce a finished bowl. **The primary reason they cost so much is that potters like to make money and they seem to be able to find people who are willing to pay the premium (inflated) price.**
The way I see it is people are charging so much for hand made shaving bowls because they are somewhat labor intensive. They have to form the bowl on a wheel, let it dry-not too fast, they glaze it and let it dry and then they have to fire it. Granted, a lot of that is down time but it takes days if not a week or more to produce a finished bowl. **The primary reason they cost so much is that potters like to make money and they seem to be able to find people who are willing to pay the premium (inflated) price.**