Pretty much, until the recent re-issue the only acro's like this (natural finish 6.5" ten lug) that turn up usually bear some type of Board of Education markings, Those that don't have the markings pretty much still have to be from the same batches (never cataloged) as these simply don't exist elsewhere.

I suppose you could run into a stripped Blacro version someone was trying to pass off but there should be enough other little details that would give it away.

Thanks for enlightening me about these snares, Mike!! I`ve heard of them before, but, never really knew the "scoop" about them...

Do you have any pics of your B/O badge B of E?

Cheers

Great info...Thanks!!

Cheers

My '78 has a hand engraved serial number on the shell, but has no other markings or documentation to tie it to any particular school, school system, or any other affiliation.

[IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/Lo_Tion/21baafc4-030d-4fe5-85e7-b370b244c8db_zpsddlfgndk.jpg[/IMG]

I don't think, or at least don't interpret it that way, that the value of these really has anything to do with the fact that they once belonged to the NYC Board of Education. Rather their value is in their unique configuration that only seems to exist within these few batches that were special ordered by that school district. So that is their identity and identifier, but not the actual reason they are valuable (which, as with most things, is because of limited supply and demand that outstrips that supply).

I would feel that an unmarked example would be worth the most on these as long as it was obvious that it was built in the 1960s or 1970s. Unmarked drums would be closer to mint than an engraved one and also rarer (most seem to be marked in some way). Although, as few and far between as these seem to be, ANY example would be worth snagging if the price is agreeable, marked or not. I just feel that an unmolested example will probably have a bit of a premium attached.

My opinion anyway, I don't think most of us covet one of these because it used to be a school drum but rather because they are a particularly unique version of a good sounding and quite popular snare drum.

Always glad to help. My B/O model saw plenty of use. I detailed it as good as it could get. But didn't let the markings/engravings bother me any. They are part of the drum and stay on the drum.

Mike

I love this baby... even full of "Tatoos"!!! LOL

$2,599.99 is insulting. Especially the .99 part of it.

Tell the seller you'll offer $600 tops because that's all the greedy SOB is gonna get :)

Mine had the high school's name hand written on the outside of the shell in red nail polish! I wiped it off with a little nail polish remover because it was right under the badge and not very neatly written. I didn't feel guilty about removing it because it was on the outside of the shell.

John

Almost all of these have some type of markings on them and they certainly are part of the history of these cool drums. My little rant above wasn't meant to denigrate the drums that are so marked because almost all of them are. Rather it was a reflection on one of the earlier posts asking about what if the drum wasn't a "Board of education" drum. I was just pointing out that these aren't valuable because they once belonged to NYC but because they are a unique configuration made in limited numbers. A drum in this configuration without any markings (and not one of the brand new ones) is still obviously one of these same drums and an unmarked one would (probably) bring a little extra. Then again the markings do lend a certain verification to the drum's provenance. I'd be plenty happy with any one of them and yours is mighty nice Mike.