USPS rising their prices so heavily has cut my international sales to a quarter of its former self. I used to ship complete sets to Norway, Italy,UK, Japan…Nowadays very few people is willing to pay $400-$600 just for the shipping and customs.

From what i've seen up here in Canada, especially in my province, vintage drums are still really expensive, at least to those who know what they have or what they're selling. I see deals in the U.S. that sometimes make me furiously envious because of our crappy dollar, and i'm always scoping the local ads for a possible deal.. Not much of a demand for vintage drums in my town, or province for that matter, so when when the super deals do pop up, it's like it's the only one that exists in the entire province.. Once in awhile i'll find the deal of lifetime, but most of the time contacting the seller is next to impossible, or i simply missed the boat.. Then there are the "semi-vintage" kits from mid 80's that sometimes have ridiculous price tags attached to them, simply because they're considered vintage.

But what most of these people don't realize is that just because it's vintage, doesn't mean valuable.. When i see a 1st generation vintage Tama Swingstar go for under $300 Cdn, then that's fine by me.. But when i see an old Westbury go for $500, i just laugh it off.. I think it's a fluctuation of markets, economy, and what people can afford to pay during a time when they're struggling..If vintage drums were cheap up here, i'd probably have 10 kits by now..Lol !

So if I'm a US citizen vacationing in Canada how much of a hassle is it to transport drums in your car over the border?

This is an excellent question. Someone just asked me this same question the other day.

Like others have said, any hobby or collectible industry is going to be cyclical. And, just like others have said, the good stuff will always be sought after and will always at least hold their value, if not increase. Just like baseball cards (I was a collector back in high school and college in the late 80's/early 90's). In the late 80's, it was like the stock market. They published monthly price guides (before the internet, of course) showing prices on all the latest cards, and how much that card was up or down from last month's price. It was like reading the Dow Jones quotes in the newspaper! Many people began hoarding Rookie Cards of Ken Griffey, Jr., Mark Grace, etc., thinking they would retire on those cards. Not so much. That industry nearly collapsed in the early 90's, because everyone and their brother was releasing new cards and they market became unbelievably saturated. To this day, cards from the late 80's and early 90's are still dirt cheap, and are very plentiful. But, a 1965 Topps Hank Aaron is always going to be valuable, regardless if the hobby is up or down.

I think another reason the market is down somewhat is that the popularity of TV shows like American Pickers, Storage Wars etc. is on the decline. About 10 years ago, when those shows were first becoming popular, any novice (or even experienced vintage drum collector) thought any old drum, cymbal, or piece of hardware was suddenly valuable, and as those shows got more trendy, collectors, dealers, pawn shop owners, antique dealers, etc. were paying top dollar for anything "vintage", because it was becoming the hip and trendy thing to do, and they wanted in on the action, so they too could appear trendy and hip.

In recent years, those shows popularity, hipness and trendiness have faded, so now non-drummers aren't buying up vintage drums and gear like they had been. A lot of them now realize, as someone said before, just because it's "vintage" doesn't mean it's good or worth a lot of money.

For me the vintage snare drum market is just fine. I am an end user so I honestly don't care if my collection is worth more or less at the end of my collecting days or if the snare drum that I bought at The 2016 Chicago Show will be worth more next year. I don't waste my time with that mindset. Of course I'd love them to be worth a ton when and if it becomes time to sell but the most important reasons that I collect are the hunt, the restoration, the displaying and the sharing with my fellow friends and collectors. My collection consists of a lot of very rare snare drums so what I have done over the years is to seek out out the ultra-rare snare drums. Every one of my 620 + snare drums were bought with smart/OPM (other people's money), thank you EBay! I say the following as only a personal opinion/mindset so please take no offense...If I had to sell my drums to pay bills I would consider that a personal failure.

Mike Curotto

I'e made some purchases lately because the prices are better than they were a few years ago. I had held off, but have gotten a few things I was waiting for for a good bit of time. Right now I have too much again and will clear the stash in July if I have time. I think I may be settled now because I will have some really nice ones to enjoy. You might say I used OPM if reduced taxation counts.

But looking at Mikes number of 620 snare drums. Yikes! I'm trying to figure out if I'd have to add a room to my house. Go for it Mike. :)

Exactly how I approach the hobby!

I keep a pulse on eBay/Reverb/CL, etc. and see thousands of drums FS. From time to time, one pops up that is an estate find, or the seller has had it for years and stands to gain a huge profit, even in this market. If it fits the bill, it goes into the collection.

Seeing a Transition Badge COB '59 Supra sell for $511 on eBay, doesn't bother me. Someone got a good deal IMO!

Wood Dyna's not bringing $1000k, BB's not getting $2k. Not a problem to me, as cash is tough to come by. Surely there are folks out here that have paid $3k for a Wood Dyna, $4000 for a BB and are shaking in their boots at the thought of a loss. Remember, there are but so many of these precious drums, the supply is limited. That's why the hunt/find is so exciting! There are a few more that need digging up, they are out there, and we must find them!Car Driving2

This market is definitely hard to stomach. For the most part, I believe the resell drum market is limited to a small group of buyers like us who primarily look for awesome deals. I admit that I have a warped sense of what something is worth based upon my desire to possibly re-sell it. $1000 might be a great price on a four piece Ludwig kit from 1973 with matching supra. But, we all know that once we have it shipped, re-skin it etc. we suddenly have $1300 in it. $1300 is still a decent number if you plan to keep the kit forever (or at least have those intentions). If you plan to play it for a year and then sell it, those numbers suddenly become unacceptable (at least to me). So, what I am finding is that most people who are buying used drums approach the transaction with this same mindset.

This leaves the rest of the drum buying public. Who are they? Well I think the general drum buying public would rather plop down $900 on a new Gretsch Catalina Maple kit than spend $900 on a used top of the line Pearl Masters four piece kit. I currently have two Premier Signia Marquis drum sets that I have listed at $500 each. Both are 3 piece. One is finished in beautiful natural maple and the other is in a a dark red stain. I have them listed at $499 each and I have not received one call. For those who don't know, these drums were Premier's flagship line in the 90's. I have a near mint 1965 Slingerland five piece with matching snare and all original hardware for <$1000 and I have not even had a sniff. What this tells me is that the only potential buyers are guys like me who don't want to spend $975 on that kit because that is probably what they are worth with full ebay type exposure. So, I'll keep the snare and stands and sell the four piece for $700 or so.

What does sell in this market are the rare drums from the major drum manufacturers. I bought a Sonor Sunset bop kit and some cool cat from Australia bought it almost immediately. I had an early 60's Ludwig four piece with matching Supra that sold within minutes of being placed on this site. I guess the business model should be to only buy Ludwig, round badged Gretsch, 60's Rogers and few others. The thing is that I love all drums and don't mind taking an occasional loss like I will take on the Premiers.

I tried that "drum flip" thing a few years back. I had a couple of nice late 60's vintage Premier kits that I invested in and refinished. I took a big loss on both when they finally sold. Quality drums, just not in much demand outside the UK, and even then I'm sure its a limited market there.

I also had a vintage Leedy "kit"......it was refinished to match and was pieced together, but it was assembled as a kit......came out beautiful and sounded great. I almost wanted to keep it, but I did it as a flip. Barely broke even on that one.

Had a round badge Gretsch Dixieland snare from the late 60s that I restored. Broke even on that.

My last vintage kit I own is my Ludwig black panther kit. Bought it at the height of the boom I'm afraid, probably paid too much. For kicks I put it out on ebay a while ago for $500 less than I paid for it. All I ever got was low-ball offers for it. I'm talking pathetically low! So that $2500 kit eight years ago is now worth at the most to some people about $900. The kit is in the same fantastic condition as to the day I bought it.

Had a Rogers chrome Dynasonic snare that I bought as a flip. Lost money on that one, but at least it was "correct"again for the next owner.

Seems that the only things maintaining the high $$ amounts are the ones made out of unobtanium to begin with.

Still makes me wonder what happened to all those extra buyers that inflated the market so much.......now we just have the players that always were there before. Nothing wrong with that, but when it comes time to sell things off, should I leave it as a life lesson....paid too much, live & learn? Seems that all of my examples of selling above were at the beginning of the "crash". When I bought them, I bought them for less than market at the time and took my time restoring them. When I was done and decided to sell those particular drums, it must have been at the beginning of the downward spiral.

BTW, those panthers are off of ebay now and are going to be with me probably till the day I die or until someone offers me what I paid for them Mind Blowi

I've been very fortunate in that I really don't have any financially poor returns yet. I have had a good number of sets that I thought were going to make me $$ bought ended up bringing in cents instead. But on the whole, I have made about $300 per set. I am in the middle of selling off everything and keeping three kits. The three kits will be paid for by the profits of the flips. I'll be keeping a Yamaha Club Custom four piece with matching snare in black swirl, a 2015 Ludwig Maple classic in Black Sparkle and a late 70's Ludwig four piece in red mahogany. I'll also keep a couple of 70's Supraphonics, 10 Zildjian A cymbals, five pair of Zildjian Hi-Hats, 6-7 Zildjian rides and numerous stands, bags etc. My wife and I are getting ready to finish our basement so I have to get down to just a few sets.