One needs to understand the mentality of the serious collector here. Besides the obvious in that such a bike often is extremely beautiful and does not need extensive and expensive restoration there is serious MoJo for the collector who can look anyone right in the eye and say "This is arguably the best _ _ _ _ _ in the world". Maybe it is unsaid in words, even. This is not an indication of sick compulsiveness or arrogance on the collector's part. It is probably what he has spent lots of money and often years of gathering knowledge in and seeking just the right item and probably made many false starts toward along the way for. There are $50,000 pool cues in this world. $2500 for a Paramount of this caliber is relatively reasonable. Remember you are probably looking at a real high point in years of collecting for someone. I'm not saying serious collectors aren't a little weird, who isn't?. That's a whole different discussion.
Tom Sanders
Lansing, Mi