Hi,
This drum first appeared on Face Book in 2024 and then resurfaced again at the 2025 Chicago Vintage Drum Show. Many thanks to my friend Myron Dargus who put in a good word for me and introduced me to the seller. A deal was struck and here it is. Both Bun E. Carlos and Joe Luoma verified this uncatalogued finish as Mottled Sepia. Bill Wanser was kind enough to allow me to quote from his notes re this finish. Here’s what Bill had to say: “Not all pearl covering options were offered in the catalogs. Some finish options, like model options, were short lived and never made the next years catalog. We have to go to the Ludwig Drummer Magazines of that time or to dealer flyers to learn of the special “Hotsy-Totsy" and "Mottled Sepia" finishes offered in 1928. These two coverings were advertised as only offered on matching bass drums and 4”x14” snare drums however, there is at least *one example of Mottled Sepia in a 5”x14” size. There was also the Rose Pearl covering offered in 1929 through the Ludwig Drummer.”

*The 5 x 14 model in this article is now the second known Mottled Sepia snare drum.

THE SHELL:

The finish is in very good condition and only needed a basic cleaning and polishing. The mottled Sepia pattern is very similar to Ludwig’s Marble Pearl with the only real difference being the brown in the Sepia vs the green in the Marble finish. I’ve added a photo of one of my Marble Pearl snare drums to show the difference. The white interior is also in good shape with a nice and tight oval badge.

THE HARDWARE:

All of the hardware was in good condition and cleaned up and polished up nicely.

Top and bottom calf heads and Snappi-Snares rounded out this cleaning/restoration.

Enjoy!

Mike Curotto