A fellow forum member asked me to procure this drum for him here in Japan because the dealer would not ship internationally . I contacted the dealer via Facebook and via long distance phone to Tokyo yesterday , and promised to purchase the drum .

This morning said forum member informed me that his " wife was putting her foot down " because of a couple of additional charges I had to add to the price of the drum (inc. shipping to me from Tokyo , Express shipping to USA , and my modest $ 60 finder's fee ) which were bank wire transfer fees totalling around $ 50 that I'd be charged , and an additional $ 25 or so to cover shipping costs IF it turned out that it was more than my estimate . As I didn't have the drum yet I could not be exactly sure of cost to ship . I promised to refund any money left over .

Crazy thing is that , minus my $ 60 fee and the $ 25 to ship to me , it would have cost him exactly the same amount of money to buy from the dealer directly because the dealer does not accept CC orders over the phone , even in Japan . So the deal got nixed by his wife for less than $ 100 !!!

So , I offer the drum to you all . A dead gorgeous circa 1963 Slingerland Artist in the rare Mardi Gras finish . It's got the solid shell with a Zoomatic strainer ( works flawlessly ) . You don't see many of these . Total shipped Express to the US is 85,000 yen ( $ 700 approx.) ) . International postal money orders preferred .

I'm not planning to put this drum on Ebay , but will list on Facebook and contact a few vintage dealers / collectors I know . It's also on auction here in Japan .