Perfect storm in an imperfect economy.Burger Kin

Even the people with money are hurting now, so those with are starting to thin down their collections, this is why so many are popping up on ebay. Unfortunately, the prices are still too high for my budget.....

Of the Black Beauty models:

Which are older? The smaller three-point strainer drums like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190337048051&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Or the "super-sensitive" strainer type like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120470747027&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

And what's with the strainer handle at the 4 o'clock position that isn't really connected to a strainer? Is it a predecessor to the baseball-bat style muffler of the 50's and 60's?

You'll know things are really getting bad when you start seeing the slingerland black beauties come up

Here's another one that was just added a few hours ago.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350256855243&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

That makes SEVEN in one week!

This is the only one out of those seven that doesn't have an outrageous opening bid price, reserve, or "buy it now" option.

I guess we will all see what the "real" dollar value of these drums will be. Or at least a ballpark figure.

9 days though. Damn, the suspense is killing me already.

You can try mine anytime Jeremy. Truth be told though: I've never actually used it with the BSO. I can't seen to find a snare set up that I'm really happy with for orchestral work. But it looks great in pictures! Mine dates from around 1932 - 1934 I believe.

The scroll patterns are the earliest, most often seen with eight tube lugs. Then came the flower patterns which went through several variations. Someone should do a comprehensive dating guide. Curotto's book is certainly an invaluable resource on these things.

Rare is a strong word. I'm not the best person to poll on this but these drums show up so often there have to be many hundreds if not several thousand out there. Now the original gold triumphal models are rare!

-Lee