Interesting question. The TV hobby has definitely taken flight since the days of the internet....when I started into TVs heavy back in the mid-1990s, I used to rely on the monthly Antique Radio Classified magazine to come in every month, and hopefully be the first to hop on the phone if I saw something I wanted
I used to run ads in the paper for sets, too. Came home with some wonderful treasures back then too.
Then came eBay, and prices for anything and everything went through the roof (the era of the $1,000 Alf lunch box and stuff
). I sold a lot back in those days just because it was an absolute feeding frenzy. In fact I remember getting about $600 for a nondescript Admiral 17" bakelite table set, plus about $100 for shipping.
As far as when the numbers started to decline, that's a tough thing to pinpoint as it's probably before I seriously entered the hobby 15 years ago. I do suspect, though, that vintage TVs in 20 years are going to be like Atwater-Kent breadboards today.....crazy high prices, only in the hands of collectors, and nobody will care if they work
