it's a tricky question to ask if it's "normal" to 
buy any incarnation of a cel for $500...you 
should know by now that it all depends on what 
cels fit whose fancy. it's fine that you don't 
deem them worthy of three-digit figures, just 
don't buy them which I'm sure you haven't.

but the old saying goes that one man's garbage is 
another man's treasure. for lack of a better 
example, I'd much rather spend $500 on an X test 
hanken cel that looks gorgeous to me than $50 on 
a production cel of AMG belldandy...but that's my 
*personal* agenda, since I collect cels purely as 
art and not as production collectibles. on the 
other hand, it's not uncommon to see people spend 
$1000 on a belldandy cel, when they probably 
wouldn't shell out $50 for an X test hanken cel. 
get my drift?

for the sake of discussion, your post was not a 
bad provocation. I think there are people of both 
opinions in this forum, and you should all speak 
your minds freely.

p.s. - ironically, I had no trouble ordering an X 
test hanken for whatever price, yet I feel odd 
ordering the CD with the booklet it was featured 
in for $27 + overseas shipping.

/mina