[Excaliber]

Sometimes I respond by saying that originals are $500,000 and up, but I'm a poor man and could only afford a fraction of that.

More often it's like Tony R. said, I give them a 'range' from 25K to a 150K. In any case I rarely say what I paid for mine personally.

I like Jamo's approach and may well start using that, "Are you interested in getting one?" I don't want to brush off someone who may be seriously interested, it's a great opening question.