I think that many old revolvers are worth more than a new one would cost. Fortunately, the old revolvers don't usually cost as much as a new one. Either way, at my age, I have the money to buy what I want. Only my own cockeyed sense of "values" keeps me from spending even more than I do. Lots of folks, especially on this forum, are about my age and in similar financial circumstances, thus have similar tastes in firearms. That is the main reason why prices are what you call high. They could easily be a lot higher, and maybe you should buy before they do get higher.

However, if you think that a bottomfeeder is unquestionably superior or even equal to a good revolver, it seems likely to me that you don't carry daily or don't have kids in the house or both. When you get home after a long day, it is a lot easier and safer to unload a revolver (if that is what you are going to do with it) and reload it in the morning than to do the same thing with a bottomfeeder. Of course, you may not find it necessary to unload your gun, in which case my comments do not apply. It is also more or less possible to unload and reload daily safely with an auto, but I suspect that if I examined the methods of those who do so, I could easily show why a revolver is MUCH safer for doing something like this 365 days a year for twenty or thirty or more years.

You carry what you want, and spend your money where you want. Be assured that others will also do as they choose, and their reasons may be solid even if their conclusions are different from yours.