Howdy fellow VDF members

A recent find via the great Steve Maxwell Vintage Drums in Chicago.

This is a model No. 980P Buddy Rich Super Classic in original Oyster Black Pearl. 22/13/16/5.5x14

Steve assisted with the sale from the original owner to a good friend of his. A short time later the friend said the set was "too nice" for his uses so Steve bought them back & sold him a more practical set. That's where I come in. All the drums are the great mahogany shells of the era.

The interiors are dated as follows: snare: Aug 19 1956. BD: Aug 19 1956 FT: Aug 18 1956. Tom: Aug 16 1956.

So this is an ALMOST matched set.

If anyone has or knows of any other OBP before these dates, please post!

This just may be the earliest known kit of the finish. I had a thread going a short time ago on the other forum asking what was the earliest known OBP drums.

This how the set arrived from Steve's Chicago store. So I have not applied the love yet but I am amazed at it's condition.

Once again another top notch packing job by his staff. The set is MINT. Nothing missing. No extra holes.

All the goodness is there intact.

An unexpected surprise was the inclusion of all the original hardware which I was not expecting including the original L arms & muffler. THANK YOU STEVE!

Some of these pics were taken outdoors so you can see the color is very strong with almost no fade.

The arrived with new coated Emperors all around and what I believe may be the original front head.

I set up and they sang right out of the boxes. Pretty amazing.

As you can imagine, I am beyond thrilled to have a set of this caliber in my collection now.

First gig is coming up soon!