Not sure on price as I haven't looked, but they'll be based on the original master casts and moulded/produced in the same way as the originals so they should be the same. Only reason the old casts would be worse was because the moulds got hammered, so later in each production mould's life (before it was replaced) there'd be more tears/slippage etc, either that or they've sat in people's leadpiles for 25+ years and got battered about.
TLR: They won't be better, but they should be the same as crisp originals.