After Gibson absorbed Epiphone the Epiphone models were actually higher priced than the equivalent Gibsons. An Epiphone Texan was more expensive than a Gibson J-50, although they were virtually identical guitars. You have to be careful these days as Chet says. Companies like Washburn and Epiphone advertise as if they were still the "Real Thing". They are definitely not, and have very low re-sale value. The odd thing though is that (snob appeal excepted) most of the imports are very well made.