This is why I joined this forum. I recently acquired a beautiful Ludwig snare drum and would like some help in dating it. I have no web cam so it's just a description. It's a 5 X 14 all metal snare, two pieces welded together so there is a center bead. The interior is black. The exterior is white enamel. It has a 338 strainer (later renamed the P 84, I believe). The strainer is slightly bent but still functional. One of the strainer screws does not look original. The "Ludwig Chicago" logo is engraved just to the left of the strainer. The hole is to the left of the logo.There is no badge on the hole. The entire drum is engraved with the scroll pattern...though it is difficult to see under the white enamel. The drum has 8 tube lugs with clip hoop mounts. The butt plate is original with no logo on it. The butt plate, strainer, hoops, tube lugs, and tension rods are all gold plated. What's amazing is that the gold plating is still quite nice and 15 out of the 16 tension rods are original (1 replacement tension rod is clearly not gold plated). The clip mounts are all original with none broken or even cracked! From my readings, I believe this drum is the De Luxe model but I can't figure out the year. Here's the more interesting stuff: it came with a light mounted inside it. This mounting did no damage or leave any marks on the interior shell....I have since taken this light out. But there's more: the light bulb still worked!!! It was an Edison Mazda 50W,15V( maybe 115V,I couldn't quite read it on the bulb),GE Blue bulb.The filament was cool looking when I put the bulb into a modern lamp!...Finally, two more drum set pieces came with the drum. One was a bass drum mount double cymbal hangar with no logo that I could find but the thumb screws looked like Ludwig. The other piece was a bass drum mount double cowbell holder (I think) with "Ludwig and Ludwig, Chicago" marked on each metal pieces (3 of them) and on the washer! The gasket between two of the metal pieces was still intact. I rescued this drum from a major Flea Market in the Northeast...it was raining and the two drum set pieces were quite rusty (they have since cleaned up quite nice). Older drum heads were on the drum but they were quite broken and have since been discarde. I found no logos on the drum heads. I won't tell you how much I paid for the lot because it was a steal. Any help from Ludwig experts would be greatly appreciated.