I sold an identical one back in the early 90's for what I thought at the time was a ridiculous price of $500. I'm not surprised they're asking so much for one today. It's the one sale I have always regretted.

[IMG]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n632/PurdieShuffle/65acro.jpg[/IMG]

John

John,

Nice snare!! I`m guessing yours had the baseball muffler as well?

Cheers

I've seen a few. I believe another member on here has or had one. The last one I saw was sold on ebay last year, but it had a couple of dings from being handled by students. It was date stamped Mar 1, 1971.

The seller bought it from a guy on a drum forum for about $400 and immediately listed it on ebay for $1500. It eventually sold on ebay for $790.

http://http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/272094559879?

Yes... sadly, yes it did. Never should have sold it. When the guy offered me $500 for it I thought he was kidding. At the time, I thought it was a ridiculous price to pay, but I was wrong. The guy that bought it from me made a solid investment and knew what he was doing. I had several other snares so I didn't think much of thinning the herd. I've been kicking myself in the a$s ever since.

John

I'd love to get my hands on one of those, even more so than a Supra from the same year.

These drums were special ordered and not cataloged. The number ordered/made may never be known unless a forensic audit of the NYC Bd of Ed's records can be done. We also know that Ludwig's records were not "complete" at the time as well.

There were at least 3 separate orders placed, as there are the Keystone badged ones, the early 70's B/O badged ones, and the 1978 B/O badged ones with factory Imperial lugs (pictures attached). The drums we are seeing in private hands are the survivors and never meant to sold off, or given to the public. Guessing how many exist is certainly a long shot, in the dark.

From VDF's own BEC, on another forum:

" I'd think there is (minimally) hundreds of 6.5" Acrolites purchased by NYC schools.

Junior high and senior high school bands have multiple drummers, and there are hundreds of junior high and high schools in NYC's boroughs.

If keystone and B+O versions are around there must have been hundreds, or thousands, ordered originally.

Remember how rare everyone thought twin strainer WFL snare drums were? They show up all the time.

Remember how rare everyone thought the Acrolite "prototypes" were?

There's lots of them around......"

We are all aware that BEC knows his Ludwigs!

And for the pictures I refered to earlier in the post....

60's Keystone:

[IMG]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d14/jptrickster/003-116.jpg[/IMG]

70's B/O Badge:

[IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/Lo_Tion/70s20NYC_zps1aeokuhx.jpg[/IMG]

'78 B/O Badge with Imperial lugs (mine):

[IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/Lo_Tion/b23a1d06-048f-4ed1-80c9-025a6d50ab5b_zpsgp8rbmrq.jpg[/IMG]

Well, $500 in 1993 is equivalent to $833 in 2016...I can see why you sold it back then...$500 was a lot of money to spend or get for a snare!!

Cheers

My (late) buddy, Jerry Jenkins (of J&M drums) made a 'tribute' copy of this drum by stripping the black paint off of a 6.5x14 Blackro! He added a keystone badge and a period correct P-83 and you couldn't tell it apart from the originals. I'm in the middle of doing the same thing. It took me awhile, but Mike Layton helped me to secure a 6.5x14 Blackro to use as a base. When I finish the drum (whenever that is,) I'll post up photos. My point is, if you really want one, you can make one for yourself. It won't be the original thing, but it'll be as close as you can get. It's what I'm going to do.

John

I still want one!! :D