^_^

I think it's all in your perspective, and it 
depends on how long you have been collecting. I 
think I've been collecting for about 6 years now. 
When I started, cels were CHEAP!! I do mean 
cheap. I was able to get several great cels for 
about 10% of what the same cel would cost today. 
This was back when I was still in college, so I 
would spend any money I had left over at the end 
of the month on cels. Back then, eBay was 
actually a deal. I could buy cel lots (5 - 6 
cels) from people, even without the scans (most 
auctions didn't have scans!) and usually I was 
happy with the results. Even if I didn't like 5 
out of the 6 cels, I could actually scan the cels 
(I did have a scanner ^_^)and post them and make 
my $50 back :)

So, during those years, I managed to gather 
together a nice collection just by luck, and by 
going to conventions 2 times a year and picking 
up $300 worth of cels (usually about 7-10 cels 
total). 

In the past two years, my cel buying has been cut 
short to no more than 1-2 cels per month, and 
that's even though I have a really good job and I 
bring home decent money. Cels have skyrocketed, 
and, I suppose, so have my tastes. I tend to 
collect very expensive things now, some of them 
are expensive because the series is now "hard to 
find" or else they are expensive just because of 
the popularity.  Some of the more popular series 
I have given up on, and I try to get really nice 
cels early enough (before the series is well 
known) so I don't have to pay through the nose 
later.

So, if you come to a really nice gallery, you 
need to consider who the person is. If it's 
someone like myself (and several others on this 
list) who started collecting years ago, we were 
collecting in a kinder, gentler time of cel 
buying O_O. So, we are very fortunate to have 
some really high-quality cels from older series. 
It doesn't mean we broke the bank to get them 
(though it felt like it back then ^_^! now it's a 
drop in the bucket compared to my Please Save My 
Earth addiction).

just my observations...

marisa