Hi again,
It's raining Slingerland Broadcasters and Radio Kings in 2012! Here's another Radio King to enter the collection. This one came to me once again from my friend and fellow collector Mark Cooper of Cooper's Vintage drums. I am not usually a huge Radio King fan but rare finishes from any drum company always intrigue me.
1939-1941 SLINGERLAND 7x14 SPARKLING GREEN HOLLYWOOD ACE SWING MODEL RADIO KING
The Shell:
This is without a doubt the best example of Sparkling Green from the 1930s-40s that I have ever seen or owned with the exception of a 1920s Sparkling Green Artist Model that is owned by my good friend and fellow collector Dave Brown of the UK. I'm calling the Sparkling Green to be in excellent-plus condition. There are no scratches, dings or fading on the shell but just to keep it real though, there is a small bit of discoloration in a few areas and there are a few "birth marks" in the finish but we're talking very few. (NB: That is my shadow, not discoloration in the photo of the disassembled shell.) Mark told me that the drum came with a case and that it must have been in that case for many years. The badge is also pristine and matches the condition of the shell perfectly. The solid maple interior is pristine with a few small areas of reinforcement ring separation but none of this was a deal killer in any way whatsoever. I could have left this drum as-is and just photographed it as it came to me but you all know me better than that...I gotta get my grimy little hands on everything; so since I was going to clean up the hardware anyway, I decided to at least try to find something to clean on the Sparkling Green finish. One pass with GooGone, Maguire's #10 plastic cleaner and #17 plastic polish re-affirmed my earlier evaluation of the finish but I was still able to clean up some hidden gunk that had accumulated around the hardware. All in all, this was still one of the more easier cleaning and polishing jobs that I have ever taken on.
The Hardware:
Mark helped me to narrow down the year of production to between 1939-41. The first year of the Beaver Tail lug was approximately 1940 and the era of the Wartime aluminum Cloud Badge was 1942-1947, so with a little wiggle room on the front end we called it 1939-1941. The nob hardware was also in very good condition but I saw that I could still take off a few layers of "age" with my Simple Green/Cape Cod Polishing Cloths regimen. I was very happy with the outcome. The bottom rims have the 4-screw snare gates but there are no "manufacturer's cartouche" stamps on either side, once again indicating that this stamping procedure was curtailed sometime after the earliest Radio Kings. The original extension snare wires are in perfect condition and had a greenish tinge that I decided to leave as is; the color-coordinated kind of guy that I am....again, keeping it real, it's most likely oxidation. We as collectors are constantly striving to acquire the "perfect" specimen, I think that you will agree with me that this snare drum comes pretty close.
I was able to find a nos Slingerland Radio King (lightening bolts) batter head and a nos of-the-era slunk (bottom) head that rounded out the cleaning of this time capsule.
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto
