Hi,
No new drums as of this writing so I’m sharing some of the drums that I got early on in my collecting. This drum can be found on pages 18-19 of my book: VINTAGE SNARE DRUMS THE CUROTTO COLLECTION.
1926-27 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 5 x 14 10 LUG/12 PT. FLORAL ENGRAVED (NEAR MINT) DeLUXE STANDARD MODEL
Quote from my book:
“This drum is in near-mint condition. Because it had been sitting in a closet in a New York City Masonic Lodge untouched for 75 years, it is what collectors call a ‘time capsule.’ Noted drum historian and Ludwig Black Beauty expert John Aldridge has stated that this drum is the cleanest and closest to mint condition DeLuxe/Black Beauty that he has ever seen. The engraving on this drum is a 12 pt. floral pattern.”
Added information/observations:
I sniped this drum from an EBay auction sometime around 2002. It was early in the morning around 2:00 am. In the early years of EBay one could see who was bidding so I had a few friends that were monitoring the auction and when I won the drum I immediately got a number of emails congratulating me. This drum has not been cleaned as it didn’t need it, only a slight dusting was necessary so what you see is the exact condition that the drum was in when I received it. As mentioned earlier, this drum came out of a NYC Masonic Lodge (Long Is. Grotto #44, Brooklyn, NY). I suspect that it may have been used in some type of Masonic ceremony as there was a marching harness clip attached to the top rim. The drum came with a pin with the name of Walter T. Morris. I did a little searching but the Masonic people were not very helpful...so who was Walter T. Morris? From my experience and studies I think that the 5 x 14 10 lug 12 pt. floral DeLuxe is the most common of the 10 lug DeLuxes (Black Beauties), the 4 x 14 version is the next rarest and the 6.5 x 14 version is the very rarest of all the 12 pt. floral DeLuxe Standard Models .
[COLOR="Magenta"]NB: Sorry for the photos, this site doesn't like my iphone photos so I had to go back to my old camera.
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Enjoy!
Mike Curotto