Consider this Marty.
To a hard core, fanatical Martin collector and investor (-I'm not THAT hardcore!) the herringbone trim is a piece of Martin History, at least on the pre-war D-28's.
Think about this for a second. In the first quarter of 1946, the last herringbone NON-SCALLOPED BRACED D-28 rolled off the line. Talking straight bracing here. Tonally, a 1945 or 1946 straight-braced D-28 is identical (all things, woods, etc. being equal) to say an early to mid 50's D-28. The ONLY difference is the herringbone trim vs. celluloid binding....YET......a straight braced herringbone 28 from late 1945 or early 1946 is worth 3 times what a celluloid bound D-28 from the 50s costs.

George Gruhn recently had a 1946 herringbone D-28 on his web site for the sticker price of $15K, and at the same time had an early 50s D-28 for 5K. 10 grand is a ludicrous amount of money to pay for the historical decoration of herringbone, but obviously certain people are willing to pay it. Matt Umanov has a 1945 non-scalloped herringbone D-28 on his web site for 15K. I shake my head and laugh at people who pay this kind of money for herringbone trim, when for a few years later, they can saved 2/3rds of the cost and have the same playabilty and tone... but that's just me.