dude you have much to learn about UO..... its not over priced... and everything is rare to a point.
this is a lesson in scarcity, the economic theory that only so much of everything exists..
then there is the lesson of time management, it takes time to mine all these ingots. we arent neccessarily paying for the awesome possibilities of dull copper... it is more the impact of time on our gameplay. the fact that others erase this time we must waste to get the ingots.... and that is why they are worth so much... i'm curious what you need 40k for anyway. BTW i'll buy those for 7 per AIM: Montaezuma...