Is that the most recent date stamp on anything you have BEC?

No, I was just opining......imo one date's as good as another.

According to Webster:

vintage noun

vin·​tage | \ˈvin-tij \

Definition of vintage (Entry 1 of 2)

1a(1) : a season's yield of grapes or wine from a vineyard

(2) : WINE

especially : a usually superior wine all or most of which comes from a single year

b : a collection of contemporaneous and similar persons or things : CROP

2 : the act or time of harvesting grapes or making wine

3a : a period of origin or manufacture

a piano of 1845 vintage

b : length of existence : AGE

vintage adjective

Definition of vintage (Entry 2 of 2)

1 of wine : of, relating to, or produced in a particular vintage

2 : of old, recognized, and enduring interest, importance, or quality : CLASSIC

3a : dating from the past : OLD

b : OUTMODED, OLD-FASHIONED

4 : of the best and most characteristic —used with a proper noun

vintage Shaw: a wise and winning comedy

According to me:

A few years ago I began to clarify vintage by era or a range of years. In my opinion, drums are antiques if they are over 100 years old or made before the twentieth century. I classify drums as Vintage early 20th century (1900-1930), Vintage Jazz and big band era (1930-1950), and my favorites--Vintage mid 20th century (1950-1975). Everything after that--in my opinion is of very little interest to me.

My most active gigging years were during that mid 20th century time period. I owned, played, and desired some drums that I didn't own and play. When my latent desire to get back in to drums resurfaced in the late 1990's, my focus was firmly set on those wonderful drums of the mid 20th century vintage. My focus narrowed to be more intense for my favorite brands from that period.

In general terms of vintage drums, I'd say late 70's and earlier would qualify. After that, things started to change with American manufacturing. That was when the "They don't make 'em like they used to!" period began. ;)

That cutoff is 34 years ago. In around 10-15 years middle aged drummers may well view the '80s and '90s as vintage. Its all relative.

I have to disagree there. As a drummer who started playing as a young teen in 1959, in my experience drums, for the most part, and just about every piece of hardware, are manufactured better today than they ever were in the "old" days. While one might prefer the sound and visual aspects of some vintage drum sets over newer models (I know I do), newer drums are far more precisely manufactured and there is simply no comparison with modern hardware.

My son's 2006 Ludwig 12/14/18 bop kit with a birdseye maple finish is stunningly beautiful to behold, constructed better and more precisely than my 1962 superclassic WMP set, sounds absolutely terrific, and is easy to tune with a very wide tuning range.

I don't buy anything made after 1980.

But now I'm so obsessed with the quality of 50's drums (esp WFL) that I really don't even want the drums churned out during the late 60's anymore. But I have plenty!

I was going to guess that date may have been the selling of Camco to DW and Hoshino.

So Peter Criss' Pearl set from the Love Gun tour is vintage then.

I will agree that the Beatlemania and competition from the Asian manufacturers helped throw the craftsmanship out the window for most US companies. It seems like 1965 is the worst year for Ludwig in the 60's, ( in my experience.)