The value of anything is subjective, and depends on such concepts as scarcity, need and the intrinsic value of its components.
Just because something is rare does not in itself create value.
If an item is required for the continuance of life, its value may soar beyond the norm, to the parties whose lives are at stake. A commonplace object in dire circumstances may have a value to those who need it far beyond its otherwise perceived monetary value.
Intrinsic value is subject to knowledge. A pretty pebble may be of little value to one who is unaware that it is a rare gemstone, for example.
Regarding the object in question, the value is based on information, and is therefore created by the knowledge of those who can exhume and attribute such details as may apply. This knowledge is not easily acquired, and those who make the effort to acquire it deserve to reap the rewards of their efforts.
The object has little value to those who created it, as they are no longer in existence. It had a notional value to the party that sold it, who were at the time satisfied with the price received.
Its value was created by those who were able to explain the reasons for their judgement, and validated by those who would pay the price to acquire it. Obviously there was more than one party who desired its possession, which further validates the knowledge which created the value.
People here who work to expand their knowledge deserve to reap the reward of their efforts. Those who fail to do so have no complaint, if their satisfaction in an exchange turns out to have been unfavorable.
This does not excuse deliberate fraud, usung one's knowledge to cheat the unaware. However, that does not seem to have been the case in this transaction; the purchaser may have had a suspicion of its worth, but it was unproven, and only developed through the effort of study and investigation.
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