@lewm
I could not buy mine in the 70s, i was born in the 70s, but i bought mine from Tube Museum NYC. They are real with diamond etc. Those guys are pretty serious about tubes. I have also purchased a matched quad of Telefunken military E84L (EL84). Original boxes etc. I was working in a printing business, i can recognize an old prints (and old factory boxes).
You are right that tube collectors market is crazy, but it is not my problem anymore and i am happy about it.
Apparently we agree on that, and we agree that REAL ECC801s/802s/803s are very rare and very valuable in the crazy tube collector market. If yours are real, good for you. I do have some real Telefunken ECC83/12AX7s, and I only know they are real because I bought them in the 70s, from a reputable source, before this craziness began and before the Chinese and Eastern Europeans started making bogus TFKs and Amperex and etc tubes.
I could not buy mine in the 70s, i was born in the 70s, but i bought mine from Tube Museum NYC. They are real with diamond etc. Those guys are pretty serious about tubes. I have also purchased a matched quad of Telefunken military E84L (EL84). Original boxes etc. I was working in a printing business, i can recognize an old prints (and old factory boxes).
You are right that tube collectors market is crazy, but it is not my problem anymore and i am happy about it.