I don't feel ashamed as the OP wrote. For me it is a breach of etiquette to ask "How much did that cost?". It is an annoyance. Are you buying it? Well I am not selling so it is a stupid question aimed at:
A) Starting controversy or
B) Trying to get info on my disposable income
None of which I am interested to waste my time with or give you info about.
I have quite a few interests and I feel joy using an excellent tool when I write/cut/build/solder or do a bit of leathercraft. I can't take money with me when I die. But I love making a leather belt and seeing the smile on a persons face when I gift it, a smile that rival the happiness I felt making it. With quality, hard to get, tools.
/C
I don't personally mind when people ask how much I spent on some of my toys and tools. There are some things in which I think you are very right, and you shouldn't ask someone a quetsion of price or cost, as it is rude to a certain extent.
With my knives though, especially with people I know or who have heard of me from friends, I don't mind telling them. I see it this way:
If a person has only ever thought a knife costs $30, then they will only ever buy $30 knives, and the ones they see that are $100 or $200 will look way to expensive to them. A person who knows the regular guy sitting next to them has a $1000 knife can sometimes become curious about why the knife is $1000, and once they know the reasoning, that $100 knife doesn't look so bad.
It's what happened to me, and was the original catalyst for my collection. Spreading the desease is always fun for me

My friends used to think I was crazy for spending $200 on a knife, and now if you ask them to empty their pockets, you'll find plenty of knives from $200-800 in their pockets, and they're more than happy to tell you about how much they love them
But at the end of the day, I think if you don't want to tell someone what you paid for anything, then you certainly don't have to. I don't think the majority of people ask that question out of bad intentions, but I'm certain there are plenty that do.
I ask the question a lot, but usually just to see if the knife is something I want to spend my money on. Or if it's something that I should just learn about and bookmark for later maybe
