This drum is /was considered a toy. (Hey, what can I say? They used to have some nice toys back then!) It's probably from the 1930's...maybe earlier. It has a solid, one-ply maple shell and solid maple hoops with original red paint. The grommet for the air vent is made from a material called "Bakelite" which is a predecessor of plastic (which hadn't been invented at the time!) The mechanism used to tighten the snares is a true "strainer" and NOT a throwoff. It is this way because a throwoff has a lever that flips the snares on and off. A strainer is basically a screw mechanism that tightens or loosens the tension.

It would have come with 6 T-rods and claws that "free-float" (no attachment to the shell). This is known as a single-tension system whereby the top and bottom heads cannot be tensioned independently, but, rather are tensioned simultaneously. This makes these drums fairly impractical for a working drummers drum, but is a cool bit of history and a nice relic from the old days.

Thanks for the help lugs

I only gave $5 for it, so that's good news

I was thinking of mounting it to a snare stand and wiring a lamp inside, just wanted to make sure it wasn't a nest egg or anything