Greg Lindstrom wrote:
Hi. I just acquired my first 19th century drum from MeissnersAuction.com (see July 5th).
The identifying marks include each leather pulltab showing two stars with each star having a smaller star within it.
Though the side hole you can see only one word of what remains of a label - "SHEET". Also, inside at the top is what appears to be a name and city on a handwritten name label. As only the lower half is visible beneath the top band it's first initial (C?) middle initial (G?) last name which appears to be 7 letters of which 3-5 are __app__ (Clapp__?). There is a gap which appears to have some writing
followed by "Boston". I'm only about 30% certain of the initials but "__app__" and "Boston" are certain.
Our reply:
Dear Greg,
Congratulations. If you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay for the drum?
You have a C.C. Clapp drum. I have one or two (not sure, maybe more). See my article "The Star Drums of the 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac". That's a C.C. Clapp drum. The handwritten paper label in that drum reads as follows:
69 Court St
Boston
Could the word "SHEET" you read on your drum's label instead be "STREET"?
Take more photos. Put the drum in a very well lit area, stick a small digital camera right up against the vent hole, and see what photos you can get of the inside. I'd appreciate seeing those pictures.
Welcome to the drum collecting club. I hope you find our blog (www.fielddrums.com) interesting.
As far as disassembling the drum, it depends. There are various schools of thought. The "leave it alone" school says "don't touch it; leave it as you found it, and preserve what's left in the condition you received it." I don't subscribe to that school except in cases of really important historic relics. I have only one drum in that category (the C.C. Clapp drum, as it turns out).
All of my other drums I consider fodder for rehabilitation. Others may have a higher portion of their drums in that category. Unfortunately, I have only one at this time. And, I am not a museum that can put drums in storage for a century or more. I buy drums as art and decorate my office with them. As such, I'd like them to look good. One by one, I send them to Jim Ellis at Cooperman (Vermont -- www.Cooperman.com) who does a terrific job bringing them back to life. I can show you some before and after photos (probably a good topic for an article on the blog). Ropes, tugs (leather ears) and heads are "consumables", meaning they go. You can keep them around in storage but I replace them on all but the really good relics. My preference is to restore most of my drums to playability. Cooperman does a great job at that.
Thanks for writing.
Thank you very much for the quick identification on the drum. I'll work on the internal photos of the text.
ReplyDeleteI paid $300 for the drum which included two dark colored drumsticks and another lighter colored longer pointed stick.
You have a wonderful website and user-friendly.
Greg