Labs, You maybe thinking of the Bear signature series bows of a few years ago. The original signature was Fred's last project. These came in a walnut case, gold latches, with a ivory coin...some say from the ivory of his elephant. These bows sold for thousand back in the seventies. I'm sure bowdoc can fill in a lot of history on the bow.
You seem shocked even though you were the one originally asking! You can see the same differences in shotguns, fly rods, etc. They all work but some hand crafted items are favored by collectors or just an average guy who really wants something special to shoot, hunt or fish with...Doc