I agree with the OP, and have suffered the same agony. There is however, a retail strategy for not posting sold prices. Often, when it comes to commissioned work and/or pieces, or even regular products that a maker has produced for sale, they rarely list sold prices due to future sales. To explain: often, as a Photographer, I will not tell someone what my piece was sold for, because it could affect my future pricing if I were required to ask for higher pricing. When it comes to my photos, there is also a range of 'quality' pieces...some good, and some not so good. If I were to list the prices I sold to a publication, it would set a precedent as to future works. If I indicated a price for say a magazine cover at $10,000, a publisher a year down the line would say that that is my going rate for a cover shot. If however, I was able to get a great shot and asked for $20,000, those who knew I charged 10k the original time would ask me to justify why my price is so much different from the 'not great' shot. The analogy is very much the same for artisans who sell a product of craft. If for some reason an Artisan pipemaker sold a *** Bulldog at $1,000.00, he would need to try and justify a ** Bulldog for the same price if he deemed a price increase necessary. It is very difficult to try and explain and justify that he put 'extra work' into a piece, because as a consumer, you will not notice it. All you see is 2 of the same Bulldogs with varying prices. Furthermore, showing sold prices affect the future collectability of a piece by the same artisan. If public opinion dictates that a person's pipes double in price, it is often believed by the artists that one would look at the old pricing and deem them 'fads' or pipemaker of the season, only to wear off in the future when he's not so hot.
The reason why big companies are relatively straightforward with their pricing is because they all have relatively the same pricing margins that single, lone artisan pipe makers cannot afford to give or offer. Time, craft and skill is money to them, and with large factory pipes, none of those factors weigh heavily on the pricing. The more of those factors that come into play will dictate that the artisan needs to protect his pricing for the future if and when he becomes famous and or gets better at his skill (or becomes hotter in the public eye).
I'm not saying I agree with it, but I understand it completely.