Back in the early days of the Pit, a member from western Wisconsin lent me his Wal for a few weeks b/c he wanted to know what I thought of it. He had bought it from another Pitter. I wasn't impressed by the tone at all. Not bad, just not anything worth anywhere near the going price. Turns out that he thought the same and sold it shortly afterwards.
For Wal fanatics, I suppose that the scarcity drives the price.