I was very surprised by the extreme high prices of the sweetgrass baskets. I would like to know why the price is so high. They are well made, beautiful. We were ready to purchase, but cannot validate the asking price.

They are handmade, that's why.

You can enroll in a basket-making class.

Because they are handmade, using local materials. Both are authentic.

Cheap baskets can be purchased at Pier 1 if one just wants a basket.

I have no idea what you're talking about, but I have clients who as a hobby make Nantucket baskets for charity. The last one he did brought something like $2500 at auction. I guess the answer to your question -- if there was one -- is easy. If you like it you pay for it. If not, apparently there are others who will.

http://www.charlestonblackheritage.com/sweetgrass.html

suns, you can also try to POLITELY negotiate. As always, some craftspeople are more willing than others.

I highly recommend you look at the website starrs listed. You will cherish your basket for the piece of art and history that it truly is!

Appreciating a hand made basket, sweetgrass or other type, is like appreciating a fine piece of art, music, literature - it takes talent, time, experience, education - and it is worth paying for - to make the Nantucket baskets mentioned the artisan needs to use a specific mold which is extremely costly to purchase - they have likely years of experience in weaving and still the wear on their hands and fingers means constant breaks between weaving -

or, as someone said, you can buy a mass produced basket, or a horrid attempt at a hand made one, at a zillion stores for several dollars.

My favorite thing about every basket I own, from various places of travel, is the conversation I had with the artist when I purchased it - the old woman weaving on the hill in St. John, the lady on the bench in Charleson outside the market, and many others, an old boat captain in St. Lucia, -the stories they told me, about where they find their reeds, the process, why they do it, etc - are as dear to me as the basket.

If you do not have that special place in your heart to validate what makes a hand made basket so special, that is just how it is - some things sing to people that don't sing to others - and I am not making a judgement here -

some would pay 400 for a seat at a broadway show, others are as pleased with spending 15 to see the local community theater groups rendition of the same show - some would pay 3,000 for a painting another wouldn't hang in their garage, or some might pay 10 for the poster print - some would pay dearly for a first edition book or a hand written note by a famous author, or scribbles and sketches by an artist - it's all relative

so the price is high because it is original, hand made, and takes time and talent. unless you can make one yourself, this is why some of us pay for one.

When you consider the time that goes into the making of a good-quality sweetgrass basket, you can see that the prices are quite reasonable. Many of the craftspeople who make them and sell them in and around Charleston are happy to let you watch them work on baskets.

It is an art form done by VERY few craftspeople. You can get them for slightly less on Route 17 in Mt. Pleasant. You can also occasionally find them in flea markets, etc. It is not a basket--it really is considered a dying art.

They take a long time to make.

How would you like to get $15 for 12 hours of work?

Why don't they just contract with China to have cheap labor make them like everything else today and then everyone would be happy?

OK, yes, I'm being facetious.

Thank you to those with the nice responses. The others you may have mis- understood the question. I have beautiful handmde baskets from my travels and sat and talked with the women who created the pieces for me. I had not traveled to Charleston before and the prices surprised me. Although, I have now heard they have been high for many years. Please buy a sweetgrass basket if you can afford one.
I did mention they were beautiful.

No, I don't think anyone misunderstood. You asked "why the price was so high." Prices are high because of the value of the basket to the to the buyer.
Sweetgrass doesn't grow just anywhere and it is gathered and processed by the basketmakers. It's a limited supply item. With all the development in the coastal river and marsh areas, it's getting harder to find. And most of all, weaving sweetgrass is an art. I know sweetgrass looks a lot like ordinary straw, but it isn't.

"They take a long time to make.

How would you like to get $15 for 12 hours of work?"

Well said.

Aileen said another thing really well==they are "sweetgrass" baskets. It looks like pine straw and several other things, but it isn't. it is unique.

In the 25+ years that I have been visiting the lowcountry, the loss of not only habitat where sweetgrass grows, but the loss of accessibility to that habitat has greatly impacted the price of baskets. Yes, many baskets now have pine needles and bullrush in addition to sweetgrass, which helps defray the cost, but supply and demand rule. Also, when 'justifying' the cost of a basket, you have to factor in the time to gather materials not just make the basket. None of the items that go into a sweetgrass basket are available at Wal-Mart. The materials are hand-gathered and somewhat perishable, at least until they're woven. I cherish all of my baskets, especially the first one I bought, a small round basket with a lid, with my babysitting money! A great read is "Row Upon Row" by Dale Rosengarten. I think copies are still available in the area. It's a great hstory of the art.

Just as an FYI...Mary A. Jackson, one of the most well known sweetgrass basketmakers from the area has had baskets sell for upwards of $20,000 each(not a charity fundraiser). The Smithsonian has some of her work.

I have a "sewing basket" that was my mother's--it is probably near 80 years old.

Basket making is my heritage I was born into a basket weaving family. I'm so very proud of
and blessed with such awesome art work. Yes the price might be high but it's not for everyone.This the only art left from my ancestors that s still around.And every pieces I make I'm so very proud of my work that as been passed down to me I thank you all for some of your beautiful comments.

On my last trip, walking through the market, there were wildly varying prices. How does one know the real deal from a basket that isn't actually sweet grass or has other material mixed in? Should I buy in a gallery rather than the market? Is there any authentication method? Any other tips for getting a high quality, authentic basket from a respected artist?

Knockoff basket article:

http://www.postandcourier.com/articl...ear-knockoffs/