Answer from the seller on ebay:
Greetings Ernie!Ah, how are things in one of my favorite countries to visit? : )YES, This is a very rare derailleur!“Question: where does this Front derailleur come from?”On which bike it is mounted.A little history on it.It came out of a bin with someone who was involved with WTB in Marin. This was produced for a very short time as shimano was grappling with aluminum tube sizes. Back then they were not “standard” OD. Most aluminum tubing was aerospace or industrial so the OD varied slightly. Eventually working with the aluminum bike manufacturers they settled on the “endless clamp” design. Problem was by the time they settled on a design, the SIS M730 group was released so these were kind of caught in the production cycle between 1985 and 1986 hence very few were made.These endless clamp derailleurs were designed for oversized aluminum bikes. (Something like my 2nd bike in the picture attached). Off the top of my head, Cunningham, Cannondale, Klein, and American. There were others, but those are the ones I remember right now.“It is not NOS. There are traces of the chain sliding along the inner plate”It IS NOS. The early derailleur cages were polished and never looked chrome on the inside of the cage. They had better a chromeing process but the chrome was not as tough and thinner as the hard chrome on the M630 derailleurs.But yes,it was mounted on a bike as these were never available retail. Only OEM manufacturers. I have never seen this derailleur in any catalog or even part number. They were produced for a VERY short time and therefore very few in circulation. I have never seen another for sale separately off a bike.In the listing it is described:Selling as New takeoff as they may have been installed on new bikes and removed. Chrome cages may show some light scuffing, but no groves or appreciable wear. They look almost perfect overall. Just been sitting in shop so packaging and derailleur may show some minor shelf wear.
