A year or so ago I had a stroke of luck and bought at auction (for a lot less than a box spanner!) a boxed vincent part I needed, but with it in the bottom was a lot of well packed original NOS items from the fifties, small stuff: washers, shims ,bearings rubber items sholdered bolts etc.It proved to me that a lot of the even unused original items are now perished or corroded and often not as good quality as are being produced now,I cannot understand the inability of anyone to carry out a simple enquiry on the net to the 3 or 4 well established and reputable firms selling Vincent parts to if not buy,to at least establish a price before bidding on the replaced items from the last workshop strip down on e-bay.
Of couse it could be that the people who buy such stuff then resell it to other like minded people who in turn add 10% and sell again in an ever increasing spriral of twits all thinking that they are on a winner-Not unlike the art world