50$ for a place sounds insane to me. That's 800$ just for your set of 16. My whole set of 12 set me back 80€ and it still works six years later; if it ceases to do so at some point, I'll gladly get another one. I'm not saying you should buy cutlery where you'll eat paint after the second dishwasher run, but you can get something solid and nice looking for far less.