Ancient style "snare drum" handmade by Clayton Holmes Chester CT. Dated inside 2 [sic, 4] March 1937. The drum was made for John Francis a member of the Chester Connecticut Drum Corps and used by him until the late forties. It was obtained from Olive Francis Redfield of Essex CT in 1955. Measures 18 and one half inches high by 17 and three quarters wide. Excellent condition.
One of a Kind ANTIQUES
Established 1975 | Online 1995
36 Plains Road Unit D, Essex, Connecticut 06426
A fabulous find! Old Clayt Holmes was like many other CT Valley drummers of the early 20th c who sought to replicate the increasingly harder-to-find drums made by Eli Brown in Bloomfield, CT. However, he deviated somewhat from the more or less "square" dimensions utilized by Brown in the 1830s and 40s; I suspect the increased height was Holmes' tribute to the "long" drums popularized in the 1930s by such eminent makers as Sanford "Gus" Moeller. In any event, Holmes' trademark, so to speak, is the romantic figure (never ribald, always tasteful) carved in bas relief [bas-relief - A French term meaning "low-raised work." This art, along with high relief, is known collectively as relief sculpture -- meant to be seen primarily from one direction -- as opposed to sculpture which is in the round or full round. (pr. bah'ruh-leef') http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/b/bas-relief.html]opposite the vent hole of most of his drums (I have seen only one without such a figure). The creative and constructive license Holmes took was much unlike the methods of [NAME WITHHELD AS POSSIBLY DEFAMATORY], whose attempts to replicate the Brown drum construction were so meticulous they required an accomplice, printer-friend [DITTO], who replicated the very labels used by Eli Brown. I have found that the only sure way to tell a Ventres drum from an original Brown is the hand-written notation Ventres sometimes (!) left inside the shell. ;-) [Comment by "Susan" (lastname not provided to this blog)]
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