There are fewer and fewer auctions -- and, conversely, more and more BINs -- for key Silver books as the market has now become a seller's market. There are still many collectors out there hungry for a chance to own an "entry level" AF15, and the window on affordable, unrestored copies of AF15 underneath $7,500 is closing. So, yes, it's a lot for a .5, but the alternative is buying a 3.0 blue for twice as much, which is unaffordable to many. So entry level buyers are thinking, "buy the .5 [or 1.0/1.5/2.0] or get left behind at the station."
That's my story. Used the same logic when I bought my 2.5 last September for $7,500. Did the research, saw the dramatic climb upward and decided that now was the time to buy before it became (at least for me) illogical to spend so much. Funny, I already want to upgrade.
Too true. I've never been a huge Spiderman fan, but as a key 1st appearance fan I've always wanted to own a copy...then the book skyrocketed (AGAIN) and quickly escaped what I was willing to part with for a decent copy. So, I jumped on this NG for $1,000 before it left the stratosphere. I'm pretty sure I can double that $1K now...or more, even if this one is a coverless copy. The market for copies like this is pretty large relative to the market for a 1.0, which would fetch $5K+ now. There aren't many funny book collectors that can spend that kind of cash on a single book.