I agree with many of your observations A.G.
But other factors can also play a factor perhaps?
... Tiger skins are still worth a lot of money & are fashionable in the middle & far east, but not in the UK etc.. There still poached in India etc.
Elephants & rhino have had a dollar value for a long time, just, big game hunters, terrorists, vets , safari organisers, local military, anyone who wants some money for the cost of a couple of rounds or some poison can scupper the long term value for instant satisfaction.
As for prohibition always increasing value ... that's not always true.
When Persia collapsed the UK was flooded with high purity, very low cost heroin, because it was the easiest way to bring ones wealth out of a collapsing country.
Supply & demand help set the value & quite simply the bartering between salesmen & wealthy customers finally decides what the market will bare.
We see this in the antique arms world as well.
spiral
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