After reading and posting in a few recent threads about Ludwig badges without serial numbers, I wanted to revisit the topic of Ludwig and what they were doing in September 1970 and early October 1970. Here is what I have observed:
1. Very few drums with September 1970 and early October 1970 date stamps have serial numbers on their badges. [Database has one from September and five from October 1-10, 1970.]
2. A handful of drums with September 1970 date stamps have Keystone badges without serial numbers. [Database has seven blank Keystone badge drums with date stamps SEP 01 1970 through SEP 3 1970.]
3. A significant number of drums with September 1970 / early October 1970 date stamps have Blue/Olive badges without serial numbers. [Database has eighteen blank B/O badge drums from SEP 10 1970 through SEP 30 1970 and two more September 1970 drums with blank badges with hand etched numbers. Database also has eighteen blank B/O badge drums from October 1-10, 1970.]
4. The practice of trimming off the bottom portion of Blue/Olive badges for metal shelled drums with center beads did not appear to align in time with September 1970. Instead, the drums I have seen which have date stamps and trimmed badges are from January - February 1970 and late 1971. There are other reports of trimmed badges, but no large concentration of them.
5. Blue/Olive badges were introduced in later 1969, so the blank badges we see in September 1970 do not represent the first Blue/Olive badges, but pop up about a year into the Blue/Olive era. This is counter to the oft-quoted statement that the first Blue/Olive badges had no serial numbers.
6. It is well accepted that Ludwig did not apply its badges in strict serial number order or use its shells in strict date stamp order. Although there is a high correlation between serial number and date stamp, there is not an exact link and exceptions exist. Nonetheless, as detailed above, there is a pretty high concentration of blank badge drums in September 1970 and first ten days of of October 1970.
7. My database currently consists of 2660 drums with both date stamps and badges with serial numbers or which visibly lack serial numbers (confirmed blank badges - not just badges that I could not read) from late 1963 through mid-1972. It incorporates the published lists from Rob Cook, Mike Machat, Ned Ingberman, Clay Taylor Greene and Paolo Sburlati. While this represents just a fraction of drums produced by Ludwig during this time period, it seems to be a fairly representative sample.
8. Meanwhile, Ludwig Standards did not have any noticeable bump in its use of serial numbers on its badges in September - October 1970. Blank Standard badges seem to show up a little later, although more data is needed to firm up this observation.
My questions:
1. Anyone have Ludwig drums with September 1970 or October 1-10, 1970 dates? If so, please share the details about their badges.
2. Any thoughts on what was going on with Ludwig during this forty day period - September 1 - October 10, 1970?
