The hand-painted stuff is more prestige than anything.. It's like having a signed Chandler Tube Driver. Some Zvex stuff is being mass-produced as "Vexter" - still prohibitively expensive, but definitely not hand-painted..
People like Frusciante who hoard the original Zvex stuff help to drive up the value.. Annoying until someone does it with Ph-1r or something!!!
The neato thing about zvex, is that when the go used, say on kijijii, they go reasonable, 125 - 150. I've seen 2 or 3 the last 6 months in cowtown so don't forget kijigi or even craigslist as an alt to evilbay.