I would question how he arrived at the value of $29k. If he bought every single tape at the ‘new’ price...this would be a fairly questionable value.
Years ago (into the mid-80s), I knew of a AF guy who’d come out of South Korea and brought some mega collection with him (this was also like ten boxes of tapes). These were all copies of copies. I’m thinking this is probably how this guy’s collection came to be.
Too bad the Creepy Porn Lawyer is busy with his own problems. He would be just the guy for the case.