16 Nov 2011 at 22:58 - 8
I suspect the price and market for the r9 DF Holy Staff with 20 HCT Protection is due to the nostalgia value. Back in Prophecies-only days that was as close as one could get to a gold 20/20 Protection staff - no staffs dropped with req. Protection or Healing, and Holy Staff was the only monk-only staff skin other than Smiting Staff if memory serves. (Ghostlies, Shadows, and Ravens which could drop for multiple attributes may have been able to match the DF req. with HCT Prot snazziness, too. We're talking about the prenerf/prebuff staff system, of course.)
I don't know if it's still reasonable or not to expect 40k+ as Saxxon guessed - it would depend on how many players are around thinking of "the old days."
I hope that's helpful.
Cheers & GL!