The value of old stuff!

It seems that BMX bikes from the late 1970s and early 80s have become very collectable. After discovering this I gathered all my old parts (the race bike will never leave me) and I sold them on Ebay. The stem pictured above is a Pro-Neck Pro model. I bought both the stem and the vinyl snap-pad when I was in the 7th grade. I bought them along with a set of alloy V-bars; they transformed my old Mongoose BMX bike into the real-deal. I still remember my Mom driving to the bike shop to get them. I don't recall the amount I spent that day, but I am going to assume around $30. The bars shattered into pieces years ago. The stem and pad netted $80 on Ebay last week. Had they been in mint condition it would have been hundreds. These guys are building up BMX bikes as collectables that they don't even ride! My friends who were into BMX during the early 80s may remember chrome Hutch Zap Pads. A few weeks ago a set that was new and in the bag sold for $1100! Anyhow, none of my stuff was new but it did pretty darn good.
Anyhow, I will always keep my old bike, but I'd rather see the spare parts in the hands of someone that will use them than in a box in my storage closet. I sold an old Hutch frame & fork set, my old mountain frame and several old BMX parts. The net total was enough to buy this little freestyle bike I fell in love with last year at Chain-Reaction bicycles and have some leftover. So I traded in a bunch of very used old greasy parts for a 2005 model SE Quadangle, for some reason that seems almost too good to be true. Of course my motherboard, vacuum cleaner and digital camera all died the same week, but this was my most successful and exciting Ebay venture to date.