its the World Supreme Quality proprietary, "weight-reducing drilling process" that the universe has finally discovered

THATS what's driving the prices up!

oh, did i mention more suckers?

Don't you know Supreme Quality when you see it? LOL

The splintering of the wood on the inside of the shell is clearly done on purpose. It creates a swirling vortex of sound energy that not only sounds 43% better than a shell with typical clean edged holes, it has been shown to reduce the LDL cholesterol level in nearly everyone who plays them. One drummer even claims that playing them cured him of his lactose intolerance.

It also cured his diabetes and ED. Cool Dude

Ironically, an Apollo kit of "Supreme Quality" showed up on the local CL last night, and it looks to be a bit overpriced. Although Supreme Quality faux wood-graining does have some marvelous health benefits for those who play them.

https://akroncanton.craigslist.org/msg/d/1950s-1960s-apollo-wood-grain/6285803354.html

I have a couple MIJ kits that I got for around $100, so I can't say I paid too much for them :) I did have to do some work to get them looking/sounding good but they are pretty cool kits. I think the fact that alot of these drums are 50 + years old is why people are starting to ask more for them. I agree, there is no reason to pay anywhere near the same for a MIJ kit as an old USA kit...but I would spend more for an old MIJ set as I would a low end modern kit. You can get a good sounding kit with the whole "vintage" vibe. Not sure what they are worth, but I definitely wouldn't take anything less than $250 for each of my old MIJ kits :) even if they aren't original (I recovered them)

first pic Zim Gar 5 pc kit cost 425.00

second pic Orange County Avalon 6 pc cost 300.00

There is a seller currently on Reverb

down in Baton Rouge Louisianna

He is offering a white marine pearl drum kit

made up of several loosely related orphans

He has a Pearl made center lug Stewart (foil badge) bass

mixed in with two separate styles of Star made Stewart drums

the snare of course is center lug as is the mounted drum

But the floor tom (which I could really use) has the double lugs

he is asking 599.99 and with local pickup only

One's first thought is to try and educate this fellow on what he has

And what would be a fair price

and then my head starts to hurt and I say ....to heck with that

As far as snare drums being priced for more than they're really worth, another way of looking at it is that any given wrap is pretty rare and so sellers are willing to wait for a buyer who really "needs" that finish.

I sell on ebay and if I have the only thing of its kind on ebay, I'll price 20% (or more) higher than the "market" just because I know there's a buyer out there who will gladly pay the premium for that one-of-a-kind item in great shape. You can buy acrolites all day long for $100 and they sound great and are the right age, but they don't match.

On the other hand, you can wait FOREVER to sell a snare in an obscure finish because no one wants it.

The dilemma the seller faces is do they want a "fast nickel or slow dime."

I know there is a Nickel Back joke in there somewhere.:rolleyes: