Haven't had a chance to see it in person, it's all from a photo for now. I'm going Tuesday to check it out.

If the seller is thinking it's just another beat up old Premier (and it kind of is really) I'd have thought he'd be happy with $50, maybe less. If it's cob (and I'd say it probably is) then there will no doubt be dents in the shell around the lugs etc that'll need to be sorted. Also check if the replacement strainer required extra holes. Good luck

Since I'm surely using this as a player's drum, part of me hopes the strainer isn't original. Showed the pic to a friend and he said it may actually be the original strainer. Finding a replacement for this is a goose chase I'm sure and I doubt it's in gigging shape. That said, does anyone know if any easy-to-find strainers (Ludwig, Pearl, Slingerland, even Rogers) have the same hole pattern as these old Premiers? I'm planning to offer $40 and spend no more than $50.

I doubt the strainer is original and I reckon I can see a WFL logo on the slider part. The top section looks like it's off a P85 (the two parts work together). If this is the case then there will at least one extra hole as the hole pattern is different. Original Premier strainers are not hard to find but if it's set up for a P83/85 I'd leave it. $40-50 sounds like a good plan. Below is a Hi-Fi strainer from a 60s drum.

Here is some info I collected about Premier HiFi snares when I first got mine. Yours is slightly earlier, but pretty much the same idea. I'd say anything under 200 US dollars is good deal (though I can't see the strainer too well). Original Premier strainers do come up from time to time on eBay (US and UK). From this era most certainly COB, as others have mentioned.

http://maturedrummer.blogspot.hu/2014/12/premier-hi-fi-cob-snare-1967-1970.html

So I ended up getting it for $40. It's a steal for a player's drum. You guys were right: it was a WFL throw and butt plate. The back plate of the butt plate had issues, so I bought an all new Ludwig butt plate, a new reso head (kept the same beat up Coated Ambassador that had been on it for 20+ years) found a spare slotted rod at Maxwell's (the last owner actually had a phillips head screw threaded in one of the lugs) and threw some Canopus vintage wires on it. It sounds amazing. Original tone control and hoops too. Dare I say it sounds better than every other COB I've ever owned for $58 total.