least.. but yeah.. might be impossible to ever really know. I'm just wondering why the price jumped to $40+ each all of a sudden!
a very large number of schlock IC sellers all communicate with each other. They all have a continuous stream of wants or needs that they exchange. but they make their own prices. The probability is that you may have hit the original stocking guy with your first query. Querying any others will result in them looking at the wants that others shared, or buys, and he saw someone else had it and quoted you the same info.
It takes surprisingly little to trigger this effect/behavior. I did a bulk buy of some 1960's era miniature vacuum tubes (500 pcs) for around 50 cents each; the next time I looked, the price from all vendors who had them had jumped to around $3, and it's up to $6 now. (Fortunately the vendor I purchased from originally extended approximately his original pricing to me again.) I think I was - and still am - virtually the only volume buyer of these parts, but the price remains high. I've also had the same experience with other vintage new-old-stock parts.
~~ Mark Moulding