Hi,
Here's rest of the 2012 Chicago Show "Terra Cotta" story. I ended my last article with: "Well, here we go...just prior to the Chicago Show I got an email and some photos from well known collector/dealer Doug Carrington, it read: 'I thought that you might be interested.' To my surprise and delight there it was, a 1935 Leedy Broadway Standard in the same finish! We arranged a deal and the drum was purchased at the 2012 Chicago Show. Now there are two known examples."
1935* LEEDY 5x14 "TERRA COTTA" BROADWAY STANDARD MODEL
*A special thanks goes to Harry Cangany who was kind enough to give me his take on this drum: "I would say the Leedy is 1935 since the strainer is the second series Broadway Standard strainer. I quickly looked at catalogs (I don’t have all of them) and at Rob Cook’s collection of Topics and see no mention of the drum, the finish, or any picture of an endorser holding one. The two drums were probably built on opposite sides of the same work table in Elkhart...I wonder if salesmen used them as samples for feedback, or selected endorsers were given the drums? Interesting that each was in the Midwest."
The Shell:
The finish is in very good shape and required only a basic cleaning and polishing. There are two areas where the finish has lifted so once again the task was given to Al Schneider (The Original Drum Doctor) to smooth things out via his hot iron and warm towel technique, the same as he did on the L & L "Terra Cotta" drum in my previous article. The L & L and Leedy snare were actually delivered at the same time so just to add some friendly pressure and to keep it real for my friend Al, I handed both shells to Al and informed him that: "these are the only two known examples of this finish in existence at this time." He can handle it as was the case and both shells turned out fine. The white interior is clean but there is no date stamp. The shell is in-round and the badge is clean with a tight grommet.
The Hardware:
All of the nickel plated hardware is in excellent shape and cleaned/polished up nicely. I was happy to see that the 8 "X" (box) lugs were in great shape as these lugs can get pretty grungy. I did notice that the set screws inside the lugs were missing but the inserts and springs fit perfectly and the lugs are fully functional so I just left everything as is. The top and bottom rims are fine with a nice strong "Broadway Standard" stamp on the bottom rim. The tension rods are square-headed and are the smaller .18/10-24 versions that Leedy used on these type of drums. The 4-point Broadway Standard strainer works fine and the butt plate is in good shape also. I found it interesting that there is an "L" stamped on the neck of the strainer thumbscrew just like the L & L P-338s.
Of-the-era Leedy HARDWHITE calf heads and James Snappi wires rounded out this cleaning and light restoration.
A final question to cogitate on:
I found that the finish on both of these snare drums had a few areas where the finish had "lifted/separated" from the shell. These two snare drums were probably assembled across the way from each other and quite possibly at the same time so is it just coincidence or was this run of "Terra Cotta" finish never mass produced because of this lifting problem?
Postscript:
Well, what was supposed to be one "Terra Cotta" snare drum has turned into two, and from the same location! This is totally fine with me..."the more the merrier" is my motto! I am glad that I was able to share my "Terra Cotta" stories with you. Feel free to contact me with your thoughts, theories and comments.
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto
