Rhett- I agree with most of your post but have to disagree with the caramel cards being frigid. I don't think their value has slumped more than the tobacco issues of the pre-war era. I believe there has been a real hoarding of many of the caramel issues like E94, E97, E99, E100 and E103 with the net result that you don't seem them for sale in numbers anywhere near where they were a few years ago or even a year ago. I have also noticed that the mid grade and high grade caramels are doing quite well in auctions. I have noticed, however, that the E92, E93, E95 and E96s have not held their value nearly as well as some of the other caracmel sets. Maybe it is because there are more available and are not being hoarded and are being acquired to flip.
It does seem that the cards from the 5 sets I mentioned above seem to be being purchased and going in to collections, not being flipped or coming back on the market months after purchase. The one exception in the 5 set is the black and white "proofs" in the E97 set. They are still tough to find but are now selling for prices no where near what they were selling for a few years ago. Good news for those of trying to complete the set, bad news for those of us holding many of them and watching prices drop.