I don't remember spells being that pricey either so I tried doing a little digging:
lucy entry for wiz level 8 "shock of ice" spell scroll:
http://lucy.allakhazam.com/itemhistory.html?id=15656
note the cost changes:
initial entry : Live 2003-11-22 01:21 Added cost: '720'
change: Live 2005-10-29 22:23 Changed cost from '720' to '500'
change: Live 2012-03-20 03:46 Changed cost from '500' to '55'
Merchant-value was 7gp 20sp back in 2003, a far cry from the 4pp 4gp we have on green.
Of course 2003 is not 1999 so there might have been some pre-lucy price-changes...