Market wisdom--'28 Exhibit Gehrig?

[ls7plus]

It is amazing how much valuable information is available in the archives here. I was sifting through them with regard to the 1958 Kahn's Clemente when I came upon Adam/Exhibitman's posts back on October 15 & 16, 2009. I don't think there's any question that if you're interested in value appreciation as well as collecting (as I am--insofar as the collecting aspect goes, the cards connect you vicariously to the player and take you back to the time, and are thus part of the history of the game you can literally hold right in your hands), Exhibitman hit the nail precisely on the head when on 10/15/09, he posted in pertinent part:

"The basic problem with high grade mainstream postwar cards is that
they aren't all that uncommon. I don't think there is an 8/88 out there
that can't be found readily...If you really care about value maintenance,
stop collecting plastic [postwar, in high grade slabs] and start collecting
classics--go prewar & go rare when you do. When a rare prewar card
surfaces it does well in almost any market..."

All of which is a roundabout way of getting to the topic of a 1928 Exhibits Lou Gehrig in SGC fair, which was apparently recently sold by Baggers 77 (a dealer with whom I have some experience) for $1,000.00 on e-bay. I know Leon's opinion re the pop reports--snap, crackle, pop--but believe these begin to have some real relevance when you're dealing with prewar that you know from years of looking are't around in any real quantities. The '28 Exhibits Gehrig is on my want list ( I think its a great batting/follow-through pose--you can almost see Gehrig just having ripped a long drive to right center an instant before the photo was taken). It popped up on one of my saved e-bay searches when the seller listed it, but it went very, very quickly, before I could get to it. Anyway, the PSA pop on this card was ten total, in all grades. Collecting stars and hall-of-famers with an eye to future appreciation, I generally seek out '20's and '30's Exhibits in at least VG/EX, and was surprised at the price this one fetched from a buyer who pretty obviously had been looking for one for some time, as I had. However, my offer would have been in the $500-$600 range at best (I don't currently have access to vintagecardprices.com, and would have based my offer on other fairly recent Exhibits purchases I have personally made, such as a 1926-1929 Gehrig in SGC EX; 1926-1929 Foxx, SGC EX; 1926-1929 Hack Wilson, SGC VG/EX; 1921 Ruth, high-end SGC VG; 1921 Hornsby, high-end PSA VG/EX and 1931-32 Ruth from the movies stars set, PSA EX).

Since many of you know the Exhibit market, and Adam/Exhibitman probably knows it best of all, I was wondering what you guys--especially Adam, in light of his 10/15/09 post, thought about this transaction. Did the buyer pay too much? Does the pop report at least reflect some true degree of difficulty in obtaining this card? Is it an example of Adam's impeccable logic--"when a rare prewar card surfaces, it does well in almost any market?"

Thanks for your input.

Larry