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So I have to ask is the value of raw cold iron compared to its weight a misprint or are cold iron weapons plated with cold iron like silver? As it stands with the current values for cold iron and assuming that cold iron weapons are solid cold iron something like a cold iron heavy mace goes from a being worth 24 gp to 400 gp when melted back down into cold iron nuggets. So is it misvalued and needs to be something more like silver by weight or is it a plating item like alchemical silver?
The thing about cold iron is that if you melt it down it is no longer cold iron - it becomes normal iron.
Cold Iron:
is forged at a lower temperature to preserve its delicate properties.
Heating it to melting point will obviously negate it's "cold" property.
It is never laid out whether the weapons are plated with cold iron or simply made out of cold iron. However, given that cold iron is supposed to originate in the darklands, I imagine there wouldn't be a *lot* of cargo moving from the darklands to the surface, so I's be cool with saying they are plated. Maybe just the edge is cold iron but the rest of the blade is steel.
Also remember that a hafted weapon like a mace is part wood.
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The thing about cold iron is that if you melt it down it is no longer cold iron - it becomes normal iron.
Cold Iron:
is forged at a lower temperature to preserve its delicate properties.Heating it to melting point will obviously negate it's "cold" property.
It is never laid out whether the weapons are plated with cold iron or simply made out of cold iron. However, given that cold iron is supposed to originate in the darklands, I imagine there wouldn't be a *lot* of cargo moving from the darklands to the surface, so I's be cool with saying they are plated. Maybe just the edge is cold iron but the rest of the blade is steel.
Also remember that a hafted weapon like a mace is part wood.
Nah, as the description says it's still heated to shape and temper and considering you can buy and sell it by the pound (which we know is done in ingot form mostly since they present them as such) then we at least know it can be melted down at a certain temperature and still retain its properties it just likely doesn't survive high heat well. As for the plating I'm willing to see that but if that were the case I think we would see a reference to it in the description like we do with alchemical silver referring to it. My guess is that it's a mistake on the part in the trade goods section and cold iron should be priced much closer to silver. It's the only other special material that doesn't require the item in question to be masterwork and considering it's other restrictions likely makes it a novelty choice at best to everyone who uses it save like demon and fey hunters. Otherwise how else do you explain it only costing like 24 go to get a mace or of it plated or otherwise? Hell that actually makes a cold iron heavy mace CHEAPER than a silvered one. That really makes me think the raw material is mispriced.
As for maces, a mace is actually a metal hafted weapon, usually composed of one solid piece of metal that is shaped into the final product. It's part of what separates them from morningstars and makes them so expensive by comparison, often keeping them out of the hands of common folk and making them weapons of richer men. Also it's why we have metal hafted weapons on the item health chart, it's a reference to weapons like maces and the battle aspergillum.
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Actually it's likely priced much closer to glass if it's not plated since even at 5 gp a pound a lot of cold iron gear quickly becomes more valuable as its raw ingot form instead of as a weapon. A cold iron mace would be worth 40 gp as ingots vs the 12-24 gp you would get for it on the open market even if priced like silver. This issue still scales even with weapons that aren't completely metal like say a Bardiche which, even if you assume the head is only half its weight still has said head coming out as being worth like 9 gp more as ingots than the item you bought it as. Really the math breaks down with most of the weapons that have a high weight and a low cost, particularly the metal hafted weapons or many of the two handed weapons and is even worse at the current price point. Sticking it at like 1 gp per lb removes about every case of this that causes problems and still puts it at 10 times more valuable than iron which feels more realistic than the 50 times value when priced like silver or the 500 times as it's written now considering it's uses.
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There is no reference to cold iron weapons being plated.
Silver is soft, and so needs to be plated on to a more durable frame.
Pricing discrepancies of special materials are usually pointed out for Mithral and Adamantine, since they're more expensive. Entrepreneurial players often want to melt down huge-sized Mithral chain shirts and sell the raw material for a profit. If you're thinking Cold Iron instead, you're thinking small potatoes ;-)
Your biggest barrier to entry into such a market will be your GM. As this isn't something that can occur in Pathfinder Society, it falls strictly into homegame territory, and few GMs will allow such unbalancing wealth shenanigans in their campaigns.
Pathfinder isn't a game of economics. As such, the prices for these materials and items strive to be realistic, but ultimately fall more within a game balance consideration. I'd leave the issue alone. The rules are clear on Cold Iron prices, and I doubt the listing for Trade Goods was in error (though I suppose it's possible).