I have collected since 1984 and had never owned a copy until last Summer when I paid $1050 for a raw 6.0/6.5. After a press, it came back a 7.5. Amazingly, a few months later, I bought a box of 200 original owner books that had been sitting in the guy's attic for 40+ years (obviously unbagged/unboarded). Before looking through them, he told me there was some older books in there that he didn't buy off the stands but traded a Hulk issue for them years ago. I was sure that there would be no 181 in there, but while flipping the spines of the vertically stacked books, I saw it. Then an All-Star 58, then an ASM `129, then a MP 15. The guy asked for $100 for the lot and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep that night, so I offered him all the cash I had on me, which was $400. After a press, it came back an 8.0 and the Punisher was a 6.0. Oddly enough, it was apparently the 180 that he traded away as there were 5 or so consecutive issues on either side of the 181 there.
To summarize, I paid $1k+ after a 30-plus year wait and then found one a few months later for $2. TWO BUCKS! And all this happened last year!