Great post. I totally agree. I constantly follow prices, since I do this for a living, and am always making decisions about what to buy and sell.

When the housing/stock markets crashed in '08, drum prices were a bit slow to react. In my experience, they started to fall across the board around Feb of '09, and were at their worst between March and August of '09. When September hit, there was a sort of sling-shot effect, prices and sales jumped way up. Since then it's leveled off, with the normal lows and highs that have always happened. Extremely desirable, high-end items were for the most part recession proof.

This particular jazz-fest is an anomaly, and occurs now and then in any market. If the selling price was the new going rate, then any of us could buy one today for $2000, expecting it to sell for $3000. But in reality, I wouldn't pay more than $800 for one, because I think it would be very hard to sell for more than $1200. Trends are indeed very important. As always happens, there are those that will consider $3K to be the new going rate for a blue oyster jazz fest, and they'll come out of the woodwork with buy it now prices of $3000+, but none will sell!

-Bill

To me, it seems very simple, but I have stated what I believe and...time will tell.

In any case, I am very happy to see that kind of price on a vintage drum. That's my opinion. I plan on getting that kind of money, too, when (and IF) I decide to sell some of my collection. Otherwise, in the meantime, I continue to enjoy playing all my vintage stuff, which is all set up in a special room of my home. In fact, I'm going to go and practice right now....maybe the red sparkle Downbeat kit....hmmmm.... :)

Red Sparkle??? Oh man ... that is one of my quests. Most people poo poo the red sparkle as a pedestrian wrap. It was my first kit (Ludwig Super Classic Red Sparkle) and I've always had a soft spot for it. I'll have one within two years. O-Lugs, you have some of the sweetest bits. I love your 69 Jazzettes, and your 67 Jazzettes. I haven't seen your Downbeats. How did I miss those? I trip over myself to see Red Sparkle 4 piece Ludwig kits. Do you also have a Super Classic in Red Sparkle?

See....here's the thing:

I started buying vintage drums that I wanted/needed back in the late 90's when it was comparatively easy to find great deals. I bought drums for $5.00 and drum sets for $200.00 back in those days. The most I ever spent was $1000.00 and that was just a couple years ago for a complete '69 Jazzette! So, the market has already been beddy beddy good to me. I just had a feeling about things back then and took advantage of it.

So how do you think I did by paying $5.00 for a 1964 gold sparkle Pioneer in it's original case with its original Weathermaster heads in comparison to the current market for such an item? What do nice Pioneers sell for now? -$200? Okay, I don't have a calculator handy, but you can do the math. How about the '69 Jazzette? Do you think I'll ever break even on it if I decide to put it on the market? Laughing H Do you think I could double my money back? Laughing H How about triple it? Laughing H How about quadruple it? How about quintuple it? See what I'm saying?

Sure, I understand that this particular drum selling for $3K is out of the ordinary. I only suggest that the trend for the nice, desirable vintage drums is always moving upward. I'm not suggesting that every OBP snare drum from now on, will sell for $3K. I don't care if it moves in spurts or in slow motion. The point is that the trend is upwards...in my opinion. I hope to see more and more of these anomalies as time goes by because that's what I like seeing.

I don't understand how so many unrelated parties to this transaction would feel so negatively about it. What difference does it make to anyone, here? Do you all want to see prices go down all the time? I don't get it. Why hate? Someone made $3K on a snare drum and someone who obviously has the money and the desire got what they were after, too. What, exactly, is negative about that? Looks like Happy-Happy Joy-Joy to me.

Awesome !!!!!!

I was typing and didn't see this. Please, allow me to respond:

First of all, thanks for the nice compliment.

The Downbeats were a complete, matched shell pack that I bought one week after I was given the '67 red sparkle Jazzette bass drum as gift from a friend. It was just kismet that the drums all managed to pass for being close enough in both stamped dates and badge number sequence to be "matched" in either bass drum configuration. Added to that, I already had a 1966 red sparkle Downbeat snare drum (paid $50.00) laying around from years and years ago when I was on the road. So, I have an "honest" Downbeat shellpack with the added option of using the "extra" Jazzette bass drum. The fact of the matter is that, by 1967, the Downbeat snare drum was no longer being offered as an option for the Downbeat drum configuration in the catalogs. I think that ended in 1965. So, it IS a Downbeat kit with a Downbeat snare -all in red sparkle. But, it's not "officially official" -according to my own standards.

P.S., I thought I had posted some pics of them around here, but maybe not. I'll see if I can find some.

Sweet sounding kit. I'm looking forward to those pics. I love the idea of having both basses for whatever mood you happen to be in. Dang. You do come across some nice deals. No doubts. You have done 'berry berry' good indeed! I haven't had that good of luck. I'm usually too willing to overpay for something I want to play. I just watched a Ludwig Standard Silver Mist 20/12/13/14/14 snare go for 338.33. I thought about bidding but didn't. I'm only after a 20 inch bass and couldn't bring myself to break up a kit. It's just not in me. Still ... would have been a neat kit.

So, post those pics of the Red Sparkle!

O-LUGS: Your outlook is what I thought this forum was all about but lately it seems to have taken a turn toward the almighty dollar, but I feel, just maybe there is hope left to return to drummers of vintage drums talking about their drums without emphasizing how many they have and their costs,or what is the best deal you have made lately. Yes there is a place for that on the forum for people learning the price of their drums and showing them off, as it should be.

But, Information aquired thru this forum is immeasurable and has helped me enjoy, even more, the drums I do have. Thats the reason for the forum right?

MLVIBES: I like your style, straight up business man. Everything you said is correct and to the point. You also do good work with your business.

TOM - A Drummer

Like I say, I got my good deals awhile ago when the deals were there. I'm not sure where the photo card is at the moment, but I promise I will try and at least take some new pictures and post them. Please be patient as I have a lot on the plate at the moment.

I'm not sure I understood that, but my point was that nobody (or few) were interested in vintage drums when I started to buy them. Now, lots more people are interested in them....but the supply has not gone up to meet the demand....and it's never going to, either....because there is no more supply. And, even though there are a LOT of drums and drum sets in the world, many people have been snapping them up over the last decade or so.

It's not the almighty dollar that drives my interests. I am a musician, for God's sakes! If it was money that compelled my life, then I would have chosen to become an anesthesiologist! ;) I can always make money doing something. I can never make vintage drums, though. So, I don't equate vintage drums with the almighty dollar, other than to be glad that back when I saw a beautiful snare drum that NOBODY ELSE WANTED for $5.00, I opted to buy it....and so on.

The value of the vintage drum sound is a given. I thought we ALL understood that, here. I think we can all agree that the vintage sound is incomparable. Regardless of what value one person places on an object or not, we all like vintage drum sounds...right?