Maybe they have another shop where items are more reasonably priced - if you're looking for the pricing to be an actual strategy, rather than just the product of ignorance, wishful thinking, or long-term fishing, anyway.
I don't engage in these kinds of strategies, but I know they occur, and I also sell in categories where I look much more reasonably priced next to a UK seller who lists the same stuff at about 5 x what I do. It makes the price difference between those selling in China and my stuff look particularly token, so I appreciate the UK seller for that. 
@miladyssewingbasket wrote:So. They list an overpriced item and the other items they list in the same category seem sensibly priced by comparison...interesting
The chances of the seller in question actually doing that are pretty low - it happens, but not often, and generally not with one-off items like vintage stuff tends to be (i.e. there would be no point listing a single item in such a ways as it wouldn't sell, with there being no comparable items for people to jump at when they appear).
I mostly just proffered it as a potential theory because it's one of the few scenarios where the pricing is an intentional tactic / strategy. There are a lot of people on eBay with a lot of different motivations for selling, and a lot of different things the money from what they sell is intended to pay for, and the vast majority of sellers simply price items with what they want / need to make, while taking market value into account.
In cases where a price doesn't match market history / expectations, with no clear reasoning behind it, one can either ask the seller why their price is X (not recommended, unless you can phrase it in a way that comes across well, i.e. non accusatory and non judgemental), or one can speculate (entertaining, maybe, but largely fruitless).
It's also common for people to price high and just wait, because it costs next to nothing and having a low turnover with a high profit is more worth their while than a high turnover but low profit.
The seller may have spotted a highly contested auction and though the final price on that was a good indication of what they can get for it. I've made that mistake before, only it was at the peak of the 99c auction craze and the one I saw that made me list my own went for 25 x what mine did the following week. Plus I underquoted postage. They clearly don't mind too much that it hasn't sold, otherwise they would have pulled it or dropped the price, so whatever their strategy is, it's not bad enough to inspire change. 
