Just saw this ranger set come up on Ebay. Retail value in 1996 was $750, and today around $2,400. The seller is offering it for $395. A perfect example of an online seller asking below materials cost for a beautiful handmade buckle in 14K and Sterling! M.M. Michael Roger’s Sterling Silver 14k Buckle 3pc Ranger Belt 40.5" | eBay
It did, Steve. Normally these have two keepers. Still a tremendous bargain at the offering price. The tarnish on this piece is really a shame. It looks like it‘s been in someone’s drawer for 20+ years. This will polish right up and look like a million bucks.
“G” is a partial hallmark of “EG”, Earlman Ganadonegro from the Alamo Navajo reservation in Socorro County, NM. Earlman, a really fine silversmith who worked with me for many years, often separates the “E” and “G” of his hallmark with the other quality and shop marks in between.
By now, I would expect that most active members on this site have seen this listing. When I looked, it was hard not to purchase this, as I have always wanted a piece designed by you. Unfortunately, it came at a time when several large bills needed to be paid. I was quite surprised that no one here had picked it up. It is a beautiful and timeless design, in my opinion.
On July 15th, I woke up at 4:00 am to drive to a job across the state. I noticed an email received at 3:30am mentioning this listing.
Odd because I had not saved it, only looked at it. I could not pass at that price. So even without the second keeper, I am very happy.
Here it is polished up some, and thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Great buy Mark! It looks really nice
Congratulations on an awesome set at an absolute steal of a price! It cleaned up well and looks fantastic.
mystery solved
got the same alert from ebay and by the time I looked it was a done deal so I had a good feeling It was rescued by one of us here.
Congrats. My eBay message was that it sold.
Congratulations Mark! You got an absolute steal on it. It’s a beautiful buckle!
It IS a beautiful buckle, the whole design is so attractive! Do you think the asking price is a combination of the sellers lack of knowledge and the fact that ranger sets are not as popular as they were years ago?Congrats @markyboy57! What a steal! I would have bought it for my husband had I seen it earlier!!!
Thanks for the comments everyone! My wife is happy too, she is glad that I finally bought something for myself. So I gave her a pin, and made her laugh.
Definitely a lack of knowledge, professionalism, and perhaps a bit of laziness as well. I think if I were in the resale business the first thing I would do is seek to maximize value and saleability by polishing the piece up and presenting it properly. Rangers are definitely not as big a category as they formerly were, but there are still plenty of customers out there for a good high quality ranger set. This particular set was priced well under the replacement value of the metals alone. A really savvy seller would have picked up on that immediately.