[COLOR="Red"]For some reason this site is reversing my photos...Mark was very helpful in correcting this so Mark feel free to do this again...sorry for the hassle.[/COLOR]

Hi,

As a lot of you already know, I like the rare, quirky vintage snare drums and this one fits that category. In the late 1990s I would go to the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. I would also make three other stops; Disneyland, The Professional Drum Shop and the Hollywood Guitar Center. Hollywood GC had a few cool vintage snare drums that I would always see and this Leedy & Ludwig Autographs Of The Stars snare always caught my eye. On one of my visits to the Hollywood GC I decided to buy this drum. This was early into my vintage snare drum collecting so I had my newly acquired vintage drum friend John Aldridge on the phone (no Face Time yet) as I took the drum apart and described it to him. The obvious questions had to do with the shell and the AOTS wrap. Collectors who know this finish know it as the Leedy Autographs Of The Stars wrap (1940-41). One of the questions was how did this Leedy wrap from 1940-41 end up on a 1951 Leedy & Ludwig snare drum? The possible answers are: 1. A left over shell from the late 1930s-40s. 2. Left over AOTS wrap from 1940-41. The white interior has a 5109 date stamp which is different from the larger Leedy date stamps of the 1930s-40s. So John and I came to the conclusion that this was left over AOTS wrap that made its way to the Leedy & Ludwig factory. The badge is clean and the grommet is tight and untouched so that sealed the deal for me. The nickel plated hardware was all there and correct. I added some Leedy & Ludwig calf heads and a nice set of Leedy & Ludwig snares so there you have it… 1951 LEEDY & LUDWIG 5 x 14 AUTOGRAPHS OF THE STARS BROADWAY STANDARD

I’ve also added a photo of my 1941 Leedy 6.5 x 14 Autographs Of The Stars Broadway Parallel and (as of this writing) the only known Leedy Autographs Of The Stars snare drum in WMP.

Enjoy.

Mike Curotto