I agree its really an unfortunate thing...

I think movies like Mononoke and VHD 
Bloodlust,... the cels themselves are very 
beautifull, VHD in particular is really detailed... 
but that alone doesn't warrant the high price 
tags.

All I can say is people are willing to pay a lot 
for their favorite characters and scenes...
and while its all well and good to say that we 
should all stop paying "high" for cels...

how high is "high"? 
lets say there was a specific amount of money 
that we all decided was too much for a 
particular cel,... there is probably SOMEONE 
out there who is willing to pay that.
and completely asside from that, if there is a 
level that is "too much" then how do you 
determine who gets the cel?
Unless the cel is listed on a website for a low 
price and the fastest gets the cel, then it really 
is an "auction" mentality.

unfortunately whoever has the most money is 
not nessesarily the one who wants the cel the 
most.  You could say that an amount of money 
signifies an amount of sacrifice on the part of 
the buyer...
but its not nessesarily that way obviously.

Anyway... we'd all love it if people paid less for 
cels all around, then cels overall would be 
cheaper. if dealers couldnt sell at $1000 then 
they'd obviously have to drop prices, they cant 
afford to keep those cels (that are probably at 
least high ticket on their parts...)

but its just not realistic. people are gonna pay 
what they want to for cels. everyone is gonna 
have to make that decision on just how much 
that cel is worth to them, and there's always 
going to be that person who will pay just about 
any price for the cel that you think is only worth 
$200.

:( in a perfect world we could all convince each 
other to bid lower... but...