Sounds like you've got some inside information. (according to his blog, there were Stainless Steel prototypes made w/ plain silver badges w/ only "Ludwig", & a hand etched serial number on the badges. Is it possible that the OP snare is Stainless Steel ? or got one of these badges ? ) Or is it possible this entire website is bogus ?
I've seen a few of those badges also.Numbers were hand eched probably using a machineists scribe,on some stainless toms.
Steve B
A magnet will not stick to certain types of Stainless Steel, & this is the kind that Ludwig used. My Stainless Steel drums & marching snare have a seam running vertically. (Double check your snare for one).
Hello VDF,I just picked up a early 70's Supra with an unusual badge. It's silver with no serial number but has 585 engraved on it. I thought that the blue and olive had worn off but on closer inspection it appears it was never there. I checked the grommet and it does not appear tampered with. It came with an oyster blue kit with serial starting in the 900K range. Any ideas or has anyone ever seen one of these? Nothing unusual about the snare as it looks like a stock Supra.Many thx!V182
Last year i came across a silver badge supra with 431 etched into the badge. Bought it and have decided to sell. Any idea what it would be worth? Is it rare?
Scott
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271170454960#ht_500wt_922
I sold mine for a grand total of $175.00. I saw the ebay comment about the paint being removed from the badge which is simply not the case. It is a silver badge. it is however just a standard supra in every sense just the badge is different is all. What it's history is we may never know. if that makes it more valuable I can't say.
Good luck with the sale.
QUOTE=sstephens637;242570]Last year i came across a silver badge supra with 431 etched into the badge. Bought it and have decided to sell. Any idea what it would be worth? Is it rare?
Scott
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271170454960#ht_500wt_922[/QUOTE]
I got this response from the site admin Dan, at ludwigstainlesssteeldrums.com...
"The Ludwig engineering group used the silver hand scribed badges whenever they were prototyping a new design, or were interested in tracking a particular drum. I personally saw an all aluminum Acrolyte set which used the silver hand scribed badges which never made it to the production line and was never offered for sale. It had an Acrolyte snare with a silver hand scribed badge. The blue/olive badges were used on all general production drums, even on the stainless sets which were shipped (except for a few), and as everyone knows, Ludwig did not keep track of those those blue/olive badges. The log which contains a listing of silver hand scribed badges is missing in action, probably in piles of old engineering documentation somewhere. One thing I can tell you for sure is that your drum is VERY rare and had a special purpose at one time. Dan"
So taking his word, this could be the snare to a special set, or a prototype. Sure wish someone had the log book for these silver badges!
Scott
