Vintage Pens today - An Observation

[penwash]

This is just an observation, not looking through the crystal ball or making predictions.

Observation #1:

I notice that in forums and other online pen resources, the talks, discussion, and probably interest in vintage pens seems to be waning. I rarely even see any mention (except for a few threads we have here). Even at the pen show, active modern pen vendors seems to get more attention than reserved, "you ask me questions first" -type vintage pen tables.

Whether it's really true or not, I can see why, with newcomers to the hobby joining in every day, most of them are fed with info about modern pens. Coupled with the fact that most people who have spent decades in this hobby are not active in those same venues, thus information about how cool vintage pens are, is really lacking.

Observation #2:

As a guy who spent too much time on ebay (and other auction sites), I noticed that the prices of vintage pens are rising to the point of incredulity. I've seen sets of -- really, junky -- pens, sold by the amount that is a lot higher than say, a few years ago. Not to mention the actually good ones.

Point of Discussion:

Given the two observations above, what do you think is happening?
If the interest in vintage pens is waning, who is spending all those money on them?

** Again, this is just my observation, I'm not going into debate defending it. I am also not lamenting nor celebrating the situation, this is just to get some conversation going.