On the prices of fountain pens

I was quite surprised this year when I bought a new Japanese pen after a few years and found the prices had almost doubled in less than 3 years. From what I can tell, the cost of the German pens have also gone up about the same amount.

It's not the cost of materials, even though that's what they like to say. The doubling of the cost of $20 of gold adds $20 to the cost of a pen, not $100.

Is it us? Are we showing ourselves to be sufficiently price-insensitive that pen manufacturers assume they can raise their prices indefinitely?

Just idly wondering after I decided to close the books on my collection and just enjoy the pens I already have. I was really hoping to replace my broken 823 <F> (not Pilot's fault), and I know the prices are about to go up another 33% in July, so the urge was strong.