CJ 14 prices surging--theories?

[GregMitch34]

It's been building and building but (in my mind) peaked last night with $2000 paid for a Slim Sallee SGC 55 at Love of the Game, and $1450 for a Joe Wood SGC 40 (remember, he's not a HOFer either), and so on. Flipped over to eBay and saw, perhaps in response, that a common SGC 40 just sold for $350 and a Bender SGC 45 for $800. Then the trickle down: at ebay even the 1s and 2s soaring, for example, a common, grimy, Sweeney PSA 2 is already at $224 with 9 hours left in an auction. And has followed a couple months of increases--with SGCs finally starting to close gap on PSAs.

Why? Just a phase? If more collectors (perhaps of SGCs)--why now? Seems to be has also been recent climb in all t206 HOFers 5 or above. I wonder if this reflects appeal of cards that are both "safest" yet also oddly "hottest"--as collecting economy overall fully gets over 2008 collapse at last?

Note: Other Love of Game prices included $1900 for Knabe 3.5, $660 for McGraw SGC 40 and $960 for PSA 4 Collins and SGC 50 Baker and Walsh.