[MM-MALTS-L] What drives price?

[Ralph Katzenell]

Greetings all.
The recent discussion on pricing and collectability prompts me to wonder: what exactly is it that drives up the price of a particular bottling? More specifically, is it common for single cask one-offs (batch size say 190 - 550 bottles) to become collectors items. How long does it take.? How is its "collectability"established? Does it need time, distribution and initial easy availability (based on multi-cask batching) to become a collectors item.
Granted there are the advertizing promotions deliberately intended to appeal to "faux-collectors". I'm more interested in applying the question to standard bottlings intended for sale for consumption.

Granpa Ralph