I only mentioned it here because a poster mentioned the obvious quality of the Lymann Morse, and it got me thinking of the bigger picture.
Actually, you were the first to mention "quality". In my original post I said it was a "pedigreed yacht" and "nice". Going back to the 1920s over 200 boats have been built in their yard. The boat under discussion is almost certainly a Jarvis Newman design (I'm thinking a stretched version of their 46'). This is probably the ultimate pedigree for a "Down East" lobster-yacht.
"Nice", well - sure - that's my opinion.
There are a lot of elements ("qualities" if you will) that go into building a yacht - and it's upkeep and upgrading after it launches. Some of these elements have clear hierarchies - there are clearly observable differences between, for example, Buck Algonquin and Perko hardware. Or one of my personal favorites Wichard. The move to offshore production has clouded the picture somewhat, but I think almost anyone on this forum could pick up a "quality" cleat and distinguish it immediately from a low-quality version.
Another set of elements are the raw materials. Before the advent of new materials like titanium and carbon fiber, the weight and cost of materials was closely correlated. African teak is 61 pounds per cubic foot and FEQ (First European Quality) grade teak is surprisingly close in price all over the world - it's a commodity. Fiberglass and resin, same. OK, when you get into resin-infusing and other advanced technologies the correlation breaks down, but for the types of boats discussed in this forum their original launched price was pretty closely correlated to their cost to manufacture, which was correlated to the cost of materials and components. And labor. Now that is the element that can vary greatly between different regions of the world, but there are some compensating factors in terms of freight, duty, and remote overseeing that don't make the ultimate difference as great.
And then there's marketing. That certainly adds cost
, and to the extent that the marketing can induce a buyer to believe that their boat has "quality" (this is closer to the term as you were using it) then it certainly adds to the perceived value of the boat to the buyer. Whether they were discerning buyers, and whether that impression is sustained over time and into the used market, are large parts of what goes into a brand's success.
And then there are the aesthetics. This is the area where we all have to agree to disagree. But if a boat was designed by the Herreshoffs (there were several), both Ed Monks, Garden, Philip Rhodes, Tom Fexas, Art DeFever, Jarvis Newman, Jack Hargrave, Olin Stephens...and I'll even include the character designers like Sam Devlin and Jay Benford...then you have something that is distinct, and that has great value for some owners/observers. Some of these designers did production lines (e.g. the Monks for Roughwater and Ocean Alexander, Hargrave for Hatteras) but many of their designs were commissioned for well-healed and knowledgeable owners. OK, there are probably some clunkers there for eccentric owners, but for someone who wants an individualized boat rather than one of hundreds of the exact same model these boats have irreplaceable character.
Just look at the thread "Interesting boats". How many of those were production line boats?