Slingerland drums, and especially snare drums, in Sparkling Green Pearl, are rare indeed! Here's my 1964 Deluxe Student in the "as received" condition, which was already fairly clean! It really shined up beautifully! No fade whatsoever! I found it on eBay almost 2 years ago and jumped on it!

-Mark

Hello there -

Yes, you have observed correctly. Generally speaking, Green amongst a few others from the golden era (55-65 in my opinion) are very difficult to come by, especially in good condition. Green sparkle is my absolute favorite when it comes to slingerland, and I am a bit obsessive about it.

I have never found any information pertaining to why they are so scarce - generally, the most popular colors for slingerland drums during this time period were Red and Blue sparkle, with Silver following. Aside from these 3 sparkle colors, White Marine Pearl always remained a front runner due to it's association with Gene and Buddy. I believe Black Diamond Pearl was also popular, just a bit less than the aforementioned wrap options. If I had to guess at the popularity of wraps in order, I might say:

-WMP

-Blue

-Red

-Silver

-Black Diamond Pearl

-Gold Sparkle

-Sparkling Pink Champagne

-Duco color options - particularly Blue on Blue

Black Sparkle Pearl

-Light Blue Pearl (commonly known as sky blue pearl, the ludwig name for this finish)

Any other finishes from this era I consider very uncommon and rare to find. That would include (in no order):

Oyster Pink Pearl

Blue Ripple Pearl

Capri Pearl

Gold Veiled Ebony Pearl

Sparkling Pink Pearl

Sparkling Green Pearl

Fiesta Pearl

Mardi Gras Pearl

Sparkling Peacock Pearl

Turqoise Veiled Pearl (not listed in catalog)

This is all my opinion which has been developed over a number of years - I am a slingerland-only drummer (with a few exceptions) and so I have followed and paid close attention to the market for the last decade and then some.

I would say for each of the rare finishes listed below, I have only see them appear on the internet a handful of times. I have never seen a complete set of drums in peacock pearl - only a snare drum.

Green was simply not a popular color during the time period. When you do find it, it is commonly found on Marching Percussion instruments from this era as a banded wrap, matched with an additional color.

The only slingerland's I own in original green sparkle are snare drums. My crown ***el is my 1951 Slingerland Radio King in original Green Sparkle - it is my most expensive snare drum purchase to date, costing me just under $1k.

I would say I have seen less than 15-20 snare drums in original green sparkle go up for sale in the last 10 years. Often times they are only for sale for a few hours, unless they are grossly overpriced.

I hope you don't mind my indulgence - this is a favorite niche of mine in this drum collecting hobby. I'm a bit obsessive when it comes to green sparkle!

Cheers, everyone.

I should mention to - there has certainly been a surge of Green sparkle drums appearing in the last few years, especially in 2021. I believe this is due to the significantly larger presence of vintage drum shops and salesmen. More drums are coming out of the woodworks because individuals know they can get top dollar for them due to the market demand that the vintage shops have created. Green sparkle goes at a premium. Cheers.

Thank you all for the responses.

My second question is, would I have an easy time selling off a 12" tom and a 20" bass drum from a Slingerland Green Sparkle set?

Both are in original and immaculate condition.

What could I expect to get for them?

I don't know if they're more valuable, but i believe there aren't many late 50's early 60's out there. I had the only 1958 green sparkle Radio Kings in Boston a that time. I got a good deal on them because they weren't selling. Looked great, and sounded better. I still have seller's remorse

The seller and I made a deal and I'm picking them up next week. I got them for just a bit more than the price I was willing to pay. We haggled and met in the middle.

When I was getting ready to get my first set of Slingerlands, I told my father I wanted green sparkle, but he talked me out of it, and into a wrap I really didn't want and truly never liked. I mean, I was grateful for the fact that he was springing for a great set of American-made drums, but green was my first choice, which in a way is weird, because I don't own many things in green. I certainly don't have any green guitars, no green shirts, or anything else. For some strange reason, green sparkle Slingerlands just cranked my tractor.

I'll post photos after I get them home and set up.

In 1976 I returned to playing gigs after an eight year hiatus from gigging. I visited Chicago's oldest music store that was closing after about a hundred years in operation. The old alky employee was entrusted by the heirs of the late owner to sell off the remaining merchandise before the doors were permanently locked. The only drums on display were some Ludwig Vistalites that I did not like at all. I asked the guy if they had any other drums. He said that he thought there might be some in the attic. He said that I could look up there if I wanted, and handed me a flashlight. The only drums up there were three unopened boxes from Slingerland that had been up there for at least a decade. I brought them down to the store. They were 14x20, 16x16, 10x14 Slingerland Sound Kings in Green Sparkle. The guy shot me a price that was too good to believe. I asked if I could get a matching 9x13 from Slingerland. He dialed the phone, spoke with someone, and handed the phone to me. I was speaking with the warehouse manager of the Slingerland factory which was about ten miles away. He said that he was looking at a shelf that had many green sparkle toms including 9x13. Which side did I want drilled for which type of mounting hardware. I remember that I paid the store $65 for the new tom. I would be able to pick it up at the Slingerland warehouse the next morning for the store (with the tom mount receiver already installed for me). The 9x13 was a perfect match for the other drums. I gigged with these drums for the next couple of years until I accepted a job that moved my family to Texas in 1978. That job led to a 30 year career of being a District Sales Manager for Fender that involved a lot of travelling. I ended up trading those green sparkle drums to one of the most legendary music stores in the country for a brand new guitar--the very last Starcaster to come off the Fender production line in California--for my daughter. Sadly, I never had any pictures of this drum set.

leedybdp! What a great story! It was the last sentence that answered my question! Would have loved to see pictures of those beautiful Slingerland drums in "Sparkling Green Pearl"!! I feel very fortunate, and lucky, that I was able to obtain my Deluxe Student snare drum, pictured earlier in this thread.

-Mark