Hey everyone!
This my first time posting here cause I have what may be real cool find! It's a vintage Rogers snare drum that I am looking to sell and would like to get an estimated value for. I'm going to take a ton of pictures tonight to best document all the features of this drum, but for now I'll describe the drum to the best of my knowledge and abilities. The drum is 15” (diameter) x 12” (depth) and bears both the Rogers chrome logo and the “Dynasonic – custom built” badge with serial number 5888. The shell appears to be 5-ply maple with 2-ply re-enforcement rings and the inside looks (and smells) like a perfectly preserved vintage shell. I believe it to be lacquered inside as well. The finish on the outside looks like a genuine glass glitter, though I don’t have another glass glitter or a sparkle to compare it to. Around the rims the finish was clearly a vibrant gold but the majority of the drum has faded to a beautiful pale bronze, with the addition of two solid black stripes around the drum. The hardware, though weathered, still shines and I cannot find any rust or pitting anywhere. Other than the fading on the finish the drum is in pristine condition. Whoever owned this before me clearly used it rarely if at all. When I bought it I did not think to ask for any history, and I also got rid of the heads that came on it (if they were original or not I don’t know). To my knowledge though, everything is original. What puzzles me is that the strainer, snares, and butt do not look like the Dynasonic design at all. There are extra holes, but my guess has always been that these were for mounting it as a marching snare because of the placement. There are three above the badge and two below, all in a vertical line, and then two lugs over near the bottom are five holes, four creating a diamond with one in the center. The holes are not across from each other to suggest a different strainer though. The holes are surrounded by less aged areas in the finish (not as faded as near the rims though) in normal, geometric shapes so at one point there was something attached. The strainer, though, is nameless, and after unscrewing it I noticed the aging occurred on the finish under it like the majority of the shell. Also there are snare beds in the bottom bearing edge. My suspicion is that this was a Dynasonic Tenor Drum (found on page 31 of the 99-page 1964 Rogers catalogue) that someone more recently turned into a snare drum. If so it looks professionally done because it looks natural and precise enough to have been original. Either way I was hoping you guys could let me know what I’ve got and how much it might sell for. Thank you all very much, look foward to hearing what you come up with!
All the best,
Jake
