Having worked in the manufacture of this kind of costume jewelry myself, I wouldn’t exactly say that the rosaries feel high-quality, but they don’t feel super cheap. They’re somewhere in between. It probably cost a few dollars to make each one, if that. However, what you are paying for here is the rarity, collectibility, and the reference to Madonna and the tour.
As they are priced, I feel like they dropped the ball on a couple of things. The exact number of rosaries is unclear, are there 10 per city? 25 per city? And do those numbers include all the metal finishes combined or is that per color? They also could have packaged them a lot better. They should have been boxed. The pouches that they come in are the cheapest pouches I have ever seen in my entire life. As a result, the rosary is shaking around in there loose, and they arrive already scratched from the beads banging up against the polished surfaces. The pouches appear to be random as well, I’ve seen some in velvet type pouches but mine were made of paper thin polyester, and I think I saw some in organza pouches as well. The colors of the pouches also appears to be random. It would have been nice to have some consistency. I also think that the silver rosaries could’ve been made better because the acrylic cross is glued onto a plastic backing piece that has been painted gray instead of another metal silver piece.
They also could’ve played up the collectibility aspect by numbering them. Engraving a number on them probably would be too much to ask, but including a numbered card would have been a nice touch. They also feel like an afterthought as far as the tour merchandise is concerned. I feel like if you weren’t really paying attention to fan sites, you wouldn’t even know that these existed. They should have made them more prominent and sold them at every city not just her website for a few minutes.
With what I just said you would think I wouldn’t have bought them, but I actually ended up buying one of each color and I don’t regret my purchase, because I am enjoying my experience with this tour so much and they will be a nice memento to keep. Plus if their value does go up in the coming years, they’ll be worth it.
