It is easy to reproduce sneeze on a piece of wood.. if it was easy to reproduce top notch work then there are many who would have done so, to earn a quick buck.. and it would not have been called top notch..I suppose we have all drunk from the ukulele kool aid to some extent otherwise we wouldn't be on this forum but let's retain a little sanity. What to some can look like 'amazing art' to others looks like a sneeze on a piece of wood. I also wonder sometimes if people see the price tag first and only then claim a maker to be 'pre-eminent' they way they do with silly cars and designer furniture - 'well it must be good if it costs that much'. If these were $1000 I think the reverence would be entirely absent.
In case you are wondering how price for a hand made uke gets decided, it is directly correlated to the number of hours it takes to make one and the quality/desirability of the wood/workmanship. That uke was not a weekend job.. and certainly not a job that can be done by a YouTube luthier or someone without passion.
also, I suffer from UAS and have over 20 ukes.. some ukes sound better.. some ukes look better but very few get both perfect.
Disclaimer: I own a couple of MBU and I play and enjoy them, they sound as good as they look.
One final note, the price of something is what some one is willing to pay, an auction is by far the most transparent means to judge current market value.