I have inherited my grandfather's drumset and I was told it was from the 1930's-1940s era.

I am an avid musician and I glady took the drumset and the opportunity to start playing drums. I have only had them for about a month but I have taken good care of them. Recently a drummer friend of mine has told me that the set is probably worth a lot of money, and that I should never sell it. I'm trying to find out how much the drumset might be worth and may sell it if its worth a fair amount. My reasoning behind this is that I am not a professional drummer, and I really do not need to be learning how to play drums on a possibly valuable kit. I don't want to end up messing up one of the drums if it could be of real value to someone. They do sound very interesting though, the bass drum is incredibly bassy and its sound can be very subject to change with the humidity. The snare drum is very deep with a lot of overtones, it almost sounds like a chord and the hi-hats are really sharp but not too crisp or bright (if that makes any sense). The set also comes with two toms and a ride cymbal that I have not played because I really want to stick with the fundamentals for a long time before adding in more drums.

All of the drums are excelsior drums, a brand I am having a hard time researching. The only thing I could find on the brand is a pdf of a catalog from the 1920s where all the pictures of the drums are drawn. It appears to me that the heads are hide but I'm not an expert. There certainly darker than most heads and have kind of veiny tinted parts in them. The hi-hats are zildjian avedis from what ive determined is probably the first zildjian stamp based off of photos online. The ride (think its a ride?) doesnt seem to have any stamp on it. I have some really quick pictures, ill probably end up taking some better ones in the future.

The drums are in random different places because I was in the process of moving them when i took the pictures. Ive also taken the padding off of the bass pedal because it was wearing down to the wood and I have not been playing it until I can find some new padding material or a new pedal so as not to mess up the bass head.

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4wj_YegobU0/TmgWSQAu1AI/AAAAAAAAAW4/pe1EEmx_iw4/s912/11%2B-%2B1[/IMG]

[IMG]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OSWMGnS_3No/TmgWSaFoE1I/AAAAAAAAAW8/l1s2t_pe5uk/s912/11%2B-%2B2[/IMG]

[IMG]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JWP2PPJDuJw/TmgWSbBMslI/AAAAAAAAAXA/hC3Ufwj0_m0/s1296/11%2B-%2B3[/IMG]

[IMG]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ANxA3v9VzEU/TmgWSolnL8I/AAAAAAAAAXE/PCWg1eeJ_cg/s1296/11%2B-%2B4[/IMG]

[IMG]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--mVTh4LV120/TmgWSpEOxXI/AAAAAAAAAXI/FY6RGHVqKS8/s912/11%2B-%2B5[/IMG]

[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V2x3rYFlL58/TmgWS0ieLKI/AAAAAAAAAXM/iK5gBtlG-Ac/s912/11%2B-%2B6[/IMG]

^ride cymbal

I also have all the hardware as rusty as it is all working well, especially the hi hat hardware which seems to use some type of metal rod that it pulls down instead of what I have been told is usually a chain.

Anyway, how much do you think the set is worth everyone?

Thanks a lot and sorry for the lengthy post.