Trends in value of vintage / used audio equipment?

Under the presumption that technology improves the performance of the newest gear over anything from the past, and because most buyers put a premium on buying something new (meaning instantaneous depreciation after purchase), all gear lose value quite quickly.  However, some gain favor with enough buyers that the price slide comes to a halt and can even reverse.  While it is extremely rare that this reversal can be so extreme that the vintage price exceeds the original price.  Western Electric gear is an example.  Their amps and speaker components can sell for many times the original price with inflation factored in.  Even parts are expensive.  The input transformers in my amp now sell for $10k a pair, and the output transformers sell for about that much too.  Their wire used to hook up telephone switch boards can now command up to $10k for an 8” diameter spool.

About the meter craze, I am not a particular fan of meters although my linestage has a meter.  It is actually useful for telling me when the linestage is stable and can be switched to fully on.  But, the real reason it is there is because the builder uses only certain very old chassis for his projects and the chassis would have a big round hole if a meter is not stuck in there.

At the last Capital Audiofest, I went around with two young guys who are both fully engaged in gear, including professionally repairing and reconditioning gear (one is 26 years old the other 17).  As a joke, we went on the hunt for the biggest and most impressive meters.  In the Western Electric room, we found monoblocs that use massive quantities of 300b tubes (of course! they manufacture and sell those tubes) and had a square meter on the front of each monobloc that had to be at least 8" by 8".  Winner! Winner!.

blue-green meters behind a smoke glass faceplate--what's not to like in terms of looks?