Why is the price of new tonearms so high

Axel,
No dought it would be a fluid damped design with a contrete and horse hair arm board for sure....

"Why is the price of some new tonearms so high"

How about some of the phono cartridges or worse, how about wire?...

" Why is the price of new tone arms so high?"

Someone in the market for say the Goldmund Reference Model Two at $300,000.00, or even any number of other tables on the market for $40,000.00 and up.
What starting price range and available brand of tonearms would someone with this kind of budget choose?
Whats the best known performing cartridge on this tone arm a $5,000.00 brand or a $20,000 one?

I don't know what your perception is of people in this hobby like this are, myself, what ever makes you happy.

However someone that spends $70,000.00 plus on speaker wire alone, bi-amp pair and 20 feet of it, this is where my view of them changes.

Perrew you make a good point...

A couple of examples one being the Technics SP10 MKIII specifically Albert Porters and the Gerrard 301, a 50 plus year old design including other vintage tables.

Halcro, Regarding the Romans and their Colosseum ,as you would know with the invention of cement the ancient Romans were able to build structures well beyond the heights of anything else in the world at that time.
Everything about is a marvel of ingenuity.

One last thing, You live in a city where there seems to be constant repairs to your water and sewer system? This is a common problem the world over.

I think most of these engineers that design these systems should have a long look at how the Romans built theirs. Today in Rome ancient sections are still in use with few problems.....A city could not be built nor would survive with out one.