The merchandising machine has really cranked up over the past few months and shows no signs of abating. Particularly in regard to expensive items (though not solely) a number of threads, both here and on the Flamers boards have expressed assorted grumblings and at varying degrees of intensity.
Time for a reality check.
Sideshow, Weta, Noble, United Cutlery, Jerry Vanderstelt, Peter Jackson....etc...etc are not Tolkien, and New Zealand, despite the best efforts of the New Zealand Tourist Board, most definitely is not Middle-earth. All of these corporate entities and individuals offer their own interpretation of the source material for their own reasons (usually financial) but that is all they are - an interpretation. Tolkien has got nothing to do with it, and much of what has transpired in the nearly four decades since his death he probably would not have approved of anyway (see 'The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien' - 1981) .
If you are looking to buy something that doesn't appeal directly to your own sense of the Tolkien world, then just don't buy it, no matter who makes it or how much it costs. For everything that one person likes or loves there will be dozens with contrary opinions, and vice versa - it is what appeals to you that matters, not other collectors. Admittedly things get muddied when fans of the films critique movie memorabilia rather than things that Tolkien actually drew/painted or described in detail himself, but even then the appeal remains largely subjective. The only truly objective opinion could only ever come from one man - and he died in 1973.
The true legacy of Tolkien, no matter which medium you are a fan of, is to learn to use your own imagination.
Sean.