Mark would have a better idea than anyone else how much it would cost, but I do wonder if this were presented in a Crowdfunding way the donations might come in.
Just a thought.
It's combination mathematics. Imagine you identify 12 printer models, 5 major ink sets, 12 media, 6 different coatings, and two image targets (i.e., one B&W, the other full color). That's 12x5x12x6x2 = 8640 samples to print and test! If we could get the testing economics down to $1K per sample (much less is not realistic due to the labor intensiveness of the work), that's a chunk of money needing to be raised. Paring the list way down to, say 6 printer models, 3 ink sets, 10 media, 2 coatings, and color only - 6x3x10x2x1 = 360 unique samples. Much more manageable. Aardenburg has done over 300 combinations to date on a shoe string budget and a lot of volunteer labor, but I can hear it now... "Why didn't you include this, or why didn't you include that?"..
That said, if the printmaking community came together to develop a good list and the manufacturers and/or printmaking community participated in funding the project, the idea of a comprehensive published list of results is indeed possible.
Come to think of it, the Aardenburg Imaging & Archives lightfade test results database is already proof of this concept. Completed with many crowd sourced samples, volunteers, and donations, we got over 300 samples tested to date. However, the funding was never there to get much past proof of concept, and now there are entirely new ink sets and new media which logically need to be added to the database
cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburkg-imaging.com