Holy moly, $500 for a Moeck? They don't make many models that expensive.

Absolutely and more. The cheapest Moeck bass in the Early Music Shop is £885GB. That comes to almost $1400US at current exchange rates.

I bought my current bass recorder (A Mollenhauer) six years ago and it was £650 then and that was cheap then by bass recorder standards. It's a long time since you could get a bass recorder for under £500 from a regular dealer even less $500. (plastic instruments excepted)