Earlier Stone drums were finished in highly polished natural maple, but these are enamelled in black (white was offered as an alternative), and this ‘De Luxe’ finish was ‘recommended for stage, cabaret and hotel dance orchestras’.

Stone Jr moved the company from 47 to 67 Hanover Street, Boston, in 1922. Dave Brown points out, “Both my drums have the same paper tag inside the shells with the address of 47 Hanover Street, so they certainly can’t have been made later than 1922.”

The bass drum, which Dave says is ‘light as a feather’, has 10 full-length lugs, tensioned from the front end only, simultaneously pulling the batter side up. This was a familiar cost-cutting design early last century.

The calf heads were treated so as to withstand dampness. Inside the bass drum is a light bulb, also to combat cold and damp.