Agree 100% with you Amos.
There's nothing wrong with trying to exact every damn dollar you can get out of your prized possessions. My theory is that some of these people honestly don't know what they have; or they know exactly what they have and took it (talking guitars here) to their favorite dealer of choice, and the dealer offered them 15-20% below market value to buy it outright, or consign it; and they then left the dealer - put it on Ebay for what the dealer would sell it for, and just for good measure added another 20-50% onto that value.

I agree with you Jon that it's sad to see really expensive instruments sit in glass cases (museum pieces) or in permanent climate controlled storage. They should be played. It's nice if a collector is also a player. I have a couple of expensive ones. They were acquired at a time that I honestly felt I wasn't worthy of ownership and couldn't do them justice musically - yet I bought them because I appreciated their beauty, sound and their musical potential - and sought to practise enough and work on my playing to feel some sort of entitlement in owning them. My conscience is easing in that department each passing year. *G*