Japanese brass kettle question (eBay)

[Drax]

I don't know too much about Japanese kettles, but I was watching this recent eBay auction with interest. It involves a brass kettle...

It has 黄銅 (brass) stamped on it, as well as いぶし銀 (ibushi gin), which wasn't a term I was familiar with, but apparently it means oxidized silver (and I suppose refers to the outside of the kettle).

So I'm curious as to any ideas why this one went so high? The bidding history shows that two people really went after it, but this kettle went for a price close to a sterling silver (純銀) one...

[etorix]

rival collectors of that maker with deep pockets?

By famous maker Ginsendo

shame u cant see who the bidders are, but thats ebay

i quite like keeping half an eye on KaTsuRaGi, tho i think ive only bought one piece from him, a seigan yamane blue

[Alex]

Shame neither of them knew how to snipe . Bidding history looks weird.

[Drax]

It was definitely.... interesting!

I thought about the popularity piece, and so I did a search on the Japanese Yahoo auction sites. There are not a lot of total hits for Ginsendo, however, the ones that did pop up ranged from 1000yen (~$12) to about 25,000yen (~$300).

Here's two examples:
A kyuusu-looking one.
A teapot along with a tea caddy.

[MarshalN]

This price is completely ridiculous - normally these things sell for about $50 or so. I am guessing these people who were bidding didn't really know what they were buying.

The silver here is silver plated, and will eventually wear off after a while.

[Chip]

Emotional involvement is dangerous and irrational on ebay. Rarely do you see it like this with at least two bidders standing toe to toe.