Somewhat, yes...to a collector.

And how non matching are they? Some kits which were bought at the local store came with serial numbers which can be a thousand apart or more because (so the story goes) there was a bin of tags (or more?) in the factory and periodically somebody refilled it as somebody noticed it was low. Tags were pulled out randomly by workers to affix to drums, sometimes with shuffling which mixed layers. So they can vary a lot.

My kit: 760988, 763745, 762696

Another kit I've recorded: 699004, 700952,699982

Another one: 603114 (date stamped May 24, 1968), tom 629575 (June 18, 1968), floor 616133 (May 24, 1968)

So when you add date stamps into the mix you can see that the date order vs tag sequence order can be very different as well.

Disclaimer: this research isn't new. It is listed elsewhere on the site. I have just recorded a few instances as I've come across them. I got interested in this stuff because it tickled my fancy as a retired statistician. :cool:

Are you asking if each badge should have the same serial number for the kit to have the most value?

Thanks for the responses so far....One of my two main thoughts have been answered on this topic. That being said, I always believed that an original kit bought for instance in 1971 would have matching identical or at least some sort of consistent sequence in the serial numbers, but as answered that is not the case. Here are the serial numbers from my kit......877217 (24" kick), 864551 (18" Floor), 1076191 (16" Floor), 892079 (14" Tom), 1540630 (15" snare).....thanks..

Oh, those ARE matched (with the exception of the 16" floor tom and snare)!

Yes, exact matching numbers on sets never existed. There was a general range....somewhat ambiguous.

Also, snare drums were seldom seen in the same general range as the bass and toms....but yours is such a larger number, it was obviously added later.

*The 16" floor tom was added later....

Excellent! That's a pleasant surprise. When I sold the other 16" floor tom, replacing it with the 18" I guess I should have checked that serial number. It might of been the match. Live and learn...

I'm just curious as to HOW you managed to put a kit like this together "over the years" and have such close-matching badge numbers.

I was thinking about this and it made me have to do a double take (which is often the case with me these days!). Burger Kin

Well....I originally had an early 70's silver sparkle classic kit, which I had for over ten years. Sizes, 22", 16", 13" and obviously various snare drums to go with it. I always wanted two floor toms, and purchased a second 16" floor tom. Ultimately I always wanted the larger sized kit. I started with purchasing the 18" floor tom, then the 14" tom tom, and finally the 24" bass drum ( still looking for the 26"). I purchased these all on Ebay, on various dates and if my memory serves me well, believe it or not they were from different sellers. Without the luxury of being a high roller I had to sell the original kit, I guess to pay for the other. I almost wish I could have kept it. With that sale though, I wasn't even that keen on the serial number thing and probably sold the other matching number tom (8000 series) and kept the one I have (1000) without even realizing it. How rare is it to find matching drums from different people on different dates?!!? I will go back in my Ebay account to check if they were from the same seller. In the meantime I will put out an ad trying to find the guy I sold my kit to and see if he would do a trade backCool1............

Amazing! Well, you know, it could be a case of "they didn't make many 24", 18" drums in Silver Sparkle finish that year" and the drums that do exist from that year and in that finish may have all been close relatives. That and a bit of luck is the only way I can explain it. I mean, they're not in super-close sequence, but, in that finish and all being in the upper 80000 range, I wouldn't hesitate to see that as a set with "matching" numbers.

Really unusual!