Some friends bought one years ago when they were $300. A member of my daughter-in-law's family bought one last year at probably the price you mentioned and I think his wife was ready to trade him in. She was furious and I don't blame her.
Sinatra out does them all. I am reading the latest biography, "The Voice" by James Kaplan and the craze was a phenomenon at the time. The thing is, it was not manufactured by publicity agents, except for a few times. It was real. So real, that most young men really hated him. Even worse...