Not at all. Rare sizes, rare finishes, and if you listened to Steve Maxwell play them, if you heard how rich and resonant they are, you know why they are so valuable/expensive.

Those particular Camco kits are the 'Creme de la Creme' you're looking at, listening to. Fair/justified prices I say.

John

Camcos are generally overpriced & so is this set. They are good drums , on par w/ the other major makers, but w/ some overlooked flaws. The lugs are weak, & deform or break more easily than any other brand (except the pot metal lugs of Leedy & Slingerland's, from many decades ago). I would want to inspect any Camco drum I bought, especially a snare, which is put under higher stresses. Their snares also have a poorly engineered & weak strainer system. The world of Vintage instruments & Collecting have their own rules & rationalizations for pushing certain items into the rarefied Sphere of fetishized objects, & high prices. (I see this happening w/ Camco)

I am not sure why Camco's bring so much money,they are uncommon,and from what I have little I have seen and heard,very nice drums,and apparently if you look at finished auctions they are indeed worth that,if the winners are actually paying for them,and the first kit was posted about by the guy that bought it,at DFO,so I know he paid up,and he posted very good pics,and that kit was uber clean and pretty close to mint cond,and since it was in desirable sizes,and Oaklawn,and in 3-D moire that was a fair price IMO.The second kit is a bop kit,and I have seen nice gretcsh bop kits go for five to eight grand, The Chanute kit seems to priced about right I think.

I personally would probably not pay that much,even if I had the money,but that is just me,but,as far as vintage instruments go,compared to what a pre CBS Strat in exc mint cond would go for those 3-D moires still look like a bargain.

From the first link: "Shipping fees for this drum set are free, the only countries that I cannot ship to, are Australia, New Zealand, and Russia."

What?? So anywhere else on the planet? Well there's another reason I won't be buying that kit.

To this point the moire and lacquer sets did not sell at their original asking prices. As for Steve Maxwell's set, it's pretty obvious he really doesn't want to sell it. Should be fun to see what the market will dictate.

The Band

Camco lugs were Never weak and only had issues when one thick thumbed them or "Tightened the lugs beyond all reason!" In fact, 99% of them are still in use today...Every Camco owner I know will attest to that. I don't disagree with your rationalization of high prices, but you fail to realize or mention, those high prices are based on performance over a period of 5 decades of studio musicians, working drummers and weekend warriors picking them as their #1 choice. And Every drummer I have ever known would keep his Camco's or GWs over all others, and are they worth it? You Betcha! And yes I Totally agree with Purdie Shuffle (Worth Every Penny) Some of the very lucky owners of GWs or very early Camco's were treated to solid brass lugs that were definitely not made to over tighten...

> early Camco's were treated to solid brass lugs that were definitely not made to over tighten...

No need to... the drums tune up easily, smoothly. Tremendous tuning range from low to high. Mine sing no matter where I tune them.

The justification for my earlier comment is; one kit has a very rare 18" bass drum, minty Oaklawn kits in Moire wrap is another rarity, and the the third kit is an Oaklawn WMP. Dolfan will tell you how hard to find they are. Not many WMP kits. That's why the prices are so high. Each kit is rare and unique in its own right.

On top of which, Camco drums happen to be the very best sounding/playing/most responsive drums ever made. Period.

John - I LOVE my Oaklawns!

Well I know of a 3D Moire kit that has sold a few times for $8500 and King's kit is just as nice or better than it. Maxwell will sell his kit but probably not thru Ebay. I sold my BDP kit two years ago for $4100, not bad in this economy! Especially since I was first offered $1900 for it Eye Ball

I don't know if Camcos are overpriced or not, but 5 years from now we will all know. Remember what you used to be able to get for a Rogers set or a wooden Dynasonic? Look at the steel grey ripple Dyna on the Bay. Can't get $1450 for it and there are others around $3k sitting dead still. Good grief!

I had a burgundy sparkle Camco 20,12,14 set from the late Oaklawn era back in the early 90's. I think it was missing a tom because the mounted tom had the same mount as a floor tom leg, and the bass had the newer triangular center mount. That tells me it had had the early double tom mount you see in the last of the Oaklawn era catalogs. Unfortunately, the tom mount was missing too. So I had found a rod to fit into the bass mount, put a black rubber stool leg cap on it and bought a clamp-on style mount with uni-ball 'L' arm to mount the tom. It actually worked very nicely. It was a beautiful looking and very nice playing set. The tom hoops were especially nice. I found a snare that had been stripped and refinished in black, but was otherwise complete and used with that set. I thought the turret shaped strainer was the nicest I've ever used to this very day. Smooth and very complete in its release of the snares. Set sold to finance college educations. Anyone out there own it now?

In any event, I'm starting to feel better about the Camco's I just purchased.