I woud like to look at this on a few different levels. Speaking as someone who has worked on the specific history of the Acrolite.
Just to mention a few things. This seller was a member on a few forums, including this one, but I lost his identity. (I think it was stewey)
His prices are in line with someone that is a dealer and he has a lot of drums. eBay is an excellent and cheap way to advertise. It is a great marketing tool that many sellers use affectively. This opens them up to other deals and business which you do not see on the surface with eBay listings.
His description to me is pretty good, never saying mint, or that the drum is in mint condition, just that the chrome parts are rust free. The drum itself is excellent/prestine which I do agree with. More the excellent part, but not sure about the word prestine. (to me it means clean and this drum is not technically clean as mentioned)
I attribute this to his excellent photos and when you take such close detail photos, those smaller issues do really pop out at you. There are times I take a photo and do not notice a lot of the small defects until I study the blown up photos.
Ok, with that over..... and I was not promoting or endorsing the seller.
The Acrolite on this auction is an interesting specimen and if I were a collector of Acrolite drum history and trying to piece an Acrolite specific collection together then I would negotiate a deal.
We do know that the early "First Generation" shell Acros can go for between $400 and $500.
We have seen the 10 lugger from VADRUMS which is featured on our Acrolite dedication site and I'm guessing he would not let his go for much less. Although his version is the deeper version.
If you had such a drum then pricing it would be a challenge since there not that many examples. I would say of all of the Acrolites these would be the rarest and most valuable to the person that has focused his collecting and capturing of the history to specific drums and timelines.
I respect that type of collector because it would have made my life so much easier :)
If you find one of these at a garage sale one day for $25 and turn around re-sell it, how much would you sell it for? Let me know when and if you find it!
As a drum and looking at it as just a 10 lug drum then I do agree with everyone else, there are a lof of drums that sell for far less that can do the job better then this drum for that price.
David