It really doesn't make a hill of beans what the architect drew or says if the OP can't (or won't) spend the money on the columns designed. Is the architect going to fork over the money to pay for them just so the OP can have the home the architect originally designed? I doubt not. Does it matter if he/she is truly a licensed architect at this point? Nope.

The only value I can see involving the architect right now is for a redesign of the craftsman column, which isn't what the OP is asking for. She wants the column designed but done with materials less expensive than $1500 per column if I understand correctly.

OP, is the contractor saying the entire column will be $1500 (stone base plus tapered column) or is he saying the stone base alone is $1500? If the former, that's probably not an unreasonable price. If the latter, check out manufactured stone like Centurion, etc.