the obvious assumption is they are from sears. ive had a few silvertone guitars and have never seen drums with that name. if you have pics im sure i can tell if they have the same script or text style which may indicate something? who knows?

I thought the link would have worked. I'll try again.

Definitely Sears drums-both Pearl stencil.The squarish lug drums are newer than the red.Those squarish lugs are from a specific time period,moreso than the red type,which had a longer run.I had a few Dixie drums with those newer lugs.Very cool finds.

From what I saw and heard, only Sears ever sold Silvertone. Maybe someone else knows different.

I was born in Halifax, my first Mastro snare came from Sears there, and I lived in N.S. from 1956 - 1978 roughly, so I lived through those catalogs.

The Sears (or Simpson-Sears as it was known) catalog was THE music catalog when I grew up. A friend of mine in Kentville got a blue sparkle Silvertone drumset around 1968.

Truthfully, even as a 12 year old I thought Silvertone drums were terrible. We all did, and we used Silvertone as a word to describe the worst gear on the planet. I'm just telling you the truth. In 1967, in Nova Scotia, it was very obvious to me I wanted Gretsch or Ludwigs with Zildjians. That's partly why I'm so amazed that so many years later anybody cares about these drums or Stewart drums. Why?

The Silvertone amps, largely Valco amps, were and are great and some of the Silvertone guitars made by Tiesco and Kay are collector items.

My understanding is that Sears probably just contracted Japanese drum companies to make a bunch of sets with their name on it. It was probably whoever won the bid, just like today a Kenmore fridge is whoever won the contract - Amana, GE or whoever.

The blue sparkle set looks like the set my classmate Bruce Farquhar bought in Kentville around '68.

Yepper! The blue sparkle snare on the link is identical to my red Dixie - lugs, muff knob, and even badge placement.

Sears Silvertone stuff was always the high point of the Christmas catalog Party

that has the exact text as the 2 guitars that i had. theres no doubt in my mind those are from sears.

Thanks for all the great info. I assumed they were probably Sears, but none of the pictures in the catalogs helped at all. As far as the interest in them.....well, for $100, I get a cool retro vintage look, that doesn't sound that bad with some TLC. Don't get me wrong, but I would love to have a vintage Ludwig, or Rogers, Gretcsh,...etc. Bang for your buck, (which I don't have a lot of), I have a lot of fun searching, finding, fixing and playing these kits.

P.S. This is a fantastic forum, and community.Cool1

I don't blame you and there's a big part of me that doesn't care about the drums 'cause to me the whole music thing is about songs and having fun.

But what I've learned is that I can drive a Cadillac for the same money as a Subaru if I'm smart, learn the market and learn how to say no.

You'll find Ludwigs and the rest dirt cheap if you're in the right place at the right time. It doesn't matter where you are or if you're broke, just learn to be a hound and you'll find them!