Hi
I have inherited a G.A.M. (Italian) copper snare drum from my father who was a New Orleans jazz drummer in the UK.
I have heard that these drums are rare (?). I would be grateful for any information on the price that these are going for in UK pounds.
Many thanks
Ann
Hello Ann... and Welcome to the forum!
I don't have any information about your snare drum, but hopefully other forum members will. It does look like the hoops and tension rods are not original to the drum.
-Mark
A quick Google search located the following info about your drum, from which you could expand your search:
https://www.pearldrummersforum.com/showthread.php?248985-G-A-M-snare-drum
A similar drum was also found to have sold on the site Reverb for $500.00 USD.
Beautiful drum! Produced by a world renowned cymbal smith.
Hi
Thanks for this info. All I know about it is that they were made as you say by Roberto Spizzichino under licence by G.A.M.
As the previous person said, the tension rods etc don't appear to be original to the drum.
It gives me an idea on what its worth though - thanks.
Ann
Anything made by Spizzichino is worth money these days because he passed away a number of years ago. His cymbals are highly prized, mostly by jazz drummers, because they sound similar to the old K. Zildjians jazz players covet.
Quoting K_50 from the link above for future reference.....
As far as I know, they were designed by Roberto Spizzichino to be cheaper mass produced versions of his own drums. They were made with copper or brass shells in polished and raw finishes. Yours is the raw finish copper shell. When they were still available here in Denmark, they cost about the same as a Pearl Sensitone. I've got a brass shell GAM snare which is just great - very sensitive, and loud! I really like the strainer as well because it's simple and functional. I'd love to have the copper version too, but they're kinda hard to come by...
And adding a quote from Italian Vintage Drums and Cymbals by Luca Luciano (who is a member here and might know more since I've only got the 1st edition of his book):
Lately Spizzichino has been hosted by a metallurgical company in Pescia and the cymbals, made entirely by his own hands were marked first as "Artisan cymbals by Roberto Spizzachino". The name Spizz has been sold, and today you can find inexpensive cymbals with that name which have nothing to do with Roberto.In collaboration with the company that hosted him, he also constructed elegant snares in maple plywood, planks, steel and copper with the name of the establishment GAM (from Gli Antichi Mestieri / The Old Crafts).His solo production includes sets with copper shells, stainless steel, zinc-coated steel, brass, sometimes chemically treated on the outside...
I've seen some non GAM snares (and whole drum sets) which have different lugs and have his signature engraved on them. So it sounds like there were two sorts of snares in production.
Two GAM snares are pictured at the bottom of p119 (where this quote is found). The photo on the right is just labelled GAM snares and it looks like the one in the OP including lugs, rims, strainer. The one in that PeralDrummers link looks the same as well. The one pictured on the left in the book is called Rullanti GAM and is polished and looks a more coppery color but seems to have the same rims, lugs, and strainer.
I believe that Luca is member hipercussion on VDF. You might want to contact him for more information.
Thank you so much for all the information. Much appreciated.
Kind regards
Ann
