This US eBay seller,
rtm127 (Ryan to his friends) - a college graduate and self-proclaimed 'jewelry and watch expert', appears to have a penchant for Seiko 7A38's with dodgy-looking dials.
In the early hours of this morning, he listed this well-worn stainless 7A38-7280 with a badly stained (sorry 'Patina') dial, as a 7-day auction, with a typical (by his standards) laughably over-optimistic opening bid price of $499.95 (might as well call it $500).
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1988 ... 5015887223
- 7A38-7280-Stainless-WhiteFace-(Stained)-eBay-June2021-(Re-seller)-Listing.png (199.51 KiB) Viewed 2815 times
- rsz_7a38-7280-stainless-whiteface-stained-ebay-june2021-re-seller-1.jpg (173.95 KiB) Viewed 2809 times
- rsz_7a38-7280-stainless-whiteface-stained-ebay-june2021-re-seller-2.jpg (214.1 KiB) Viewed 2809 times
- rsz_7a38-7280-stainless-whiteface-stained-ebay-june2021-re-seller-3.jpg (167.73 KiB) Viewed 2809 times
- rsz_7a38-7280-stainless-whiteface-stained-ebay-june2021-re-seller-11.jpg (172.44 KiB) Viewed 2809 times
- 7A38-7280-Stainless-WhiteFace-(Stained)-eBay-June2021-(Re-seller)-Description.png (65.91 KiB) Viewed 2814 times
I'm not sure where he bought it, or what he paid for it (and care less). But I know this watch (case-back serial # 831585) has been 'doing the rounds' for a good few years, before it fell into his grasping hands. It's easy to recognise, because unlike most rust-stained white 710L dials, it hasn't leached onto the sub-dials. Here are a couple of photos (from two different sets), when it was listed by two different US eBay sellers, within the space of a week, back in May 2018.
- rsz_7a38-7280-stainless-whitefacestained-ebay-may2018-1.jpg (210 KiB) Viewed 2802 times
- rsz_7a38-7280-stainless-whitefacestained-ebay-may2018-8.jpg (113.13 KiB) Viewed 2802 times
- rsz_7a38-7280-stainless-whitefacestained-ebay-may2018-another-1.jpg (244.94 KiB) Viewed 2802 times
- 7A38-7280-Stainless-WhiteFace(Stained)-eBay-May2018-Another-8.jpg (167.39 KiB) Viewed 2802 times
I've been scratching my head, trying to remember where I've seen it posted more recently - possibly on WatchUseek or Instagram, but have now wasted enough time looking. The $64K question is: why would anybody want to pay $500 for that well-worn example with a 'Patina' dial, when you can pick up a perfectly good example for half that price ?
Excellent condition - Or just plain old tired and knackered ?
The seller evidently has a much higher opinion of it. 
Not surprisingly, that 7-day US eBay auction for a 7A38-701B 'Vulcan', fitted with non-original 'Feiko' replacement bracelet and badly rust-stained dial, ended without any bids placed, unsold.
