Kent was an American stencil company that produced drums in the 60's.I think they were around until the very early 70's when they had started to use Japanese strainers,etc...They ended up going out of business.Value wise they really are not worth much.The three piece you have is probably worth about $70.Evidence of such a low price range for their kits includes the fat that the strainer they used before they started using the Japanese model was very prone to break,the badges often came off with ease.And while they sound amazing ( I have a kit myself and its by far one of my favorites ) its sadly not a commonly looked for set.

Some of the kent shells were maple. Get em checked out.

Ahh, I just happened to be looking at this site the other day:

Kent History

I'm also a fan of Kent drums and own 3 of their snare drums, so I'll chime in. I have to agree with ARCHxANGEL on several points, except the value of the drums. For starters, most of the American made, maple/metal shell Kent snares are selling for over $50.00 on eBay, depending of course on condition, originality, etc... There is a good condition, orange sparkle snare with 2 days left in the auction and it's currently at $48.XX. I wouldn't be surprised to see it hit $70.00 or more by the time the auction ends.

Also a search of recently sold Kent snares shows that 4 out of 5 drums sold for over $70.00. The low end of the spectrum was a beat up example which sold for $12.00 and the highest price paid was $88.00.

They are not as stable price-wise as the other big name American drums, but I've been seeing a slow and steady rise in price for the last 2 years.

So, depending on the condition, era and finish on your 3 piece, it may be worth a mere $70.00 or possibly 2 to 3 times that amount. Again, condition really plays a huge part in the value of the drums. Many Kent's have little or no bearing edge's to speak of. That would decrease the value quite a bit, IMHO.

Having said all that, if you're looking to sell them, I'm in the market for a good condition, maple shell kit. A while back a collector had 2 or 3 excellent kits up for sale. The reserve prices were not met as I recall and the seller decided to try selling them at a local drum/percussion show. If memory serves, the bidding was up around the $200.00+ mark. Neither kit sold.

Congrats on the new drums BTW!!

Have they really been going high on ebay finally? Its been a while since I've looked any up on ebay.And when I was ( just a few weeks ago ) most were ending with one bid or less and seeling in the $20 range.At the very least the kit should have a lowest price point of about $70. If you can post some photos I would love to see the kit.

Ditto on seeing the kit. And yes, snares have been selling for well over $50.00. I've seen a few other things like tom's and kicks selling for less (a champagne sparkle tom recently sold for only $12.00), but they are usually beat, missing parts or otherwise less than desirable.

There are 11 bids on the current orange sparkle drum. I have the same drum in a mahogany finish and I paid around $42.00 for it. Beautiful piece with perfect bearing edges. I've not yet paid more than $50.00 for a Kent snare, but others have and with the prices of the bigger name drums rising, I think you'll see an increase in the price/availability of Kent drums. It happens with guitars too. When you can't afford a vintage Gibson or Fender, an Epiphone, Kay or Vega starts to look good to you.

Very good point.Matter of fact there was a lot of four stencil snares I was going to bid on since they were listed for $2.00 and I figured I would go to $30 if need be...they sold for about $80 which shocked me.So I guess were at a high stencil point where they are more in demand.

Well, the auction for the orange sparkle Kent snare ended - $180.50!!!

And no, I didn't buy it. I guess we should snap them up before the price goes through the roof ;)

I agree with that.I've recently snapped up two stencil snares before they got way too high on my price chart.One is a WMP Bradley ( which I got and i'm loving it ) the other is an un-badged ( i'll pick a name when I get it and give it a good looking over,lol ) I'll definatly check the Kent auctions more as one can never have enough Kent drums.And I was actually watching another auction that ended before I could bid of a U.S.Mercury snare in Psychadelic finish...I've never seen that before...and may never again.