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Military bass drum

This instrument is associated with the Chatham Division of the Royal Marines. It is a military bass drum with emblazoned wooden shell, wooden counterhoops, 30-inch skin heads, and rope-tensioned with British style white leather braces (round edge, white, with vellum lace). The counterhoops have thirteen drilled holes and brass saddles through which the tensioning rope passes, and three red-painted metal feet on one of them.

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  • Decorative elements:Heraldic emblazonment of the Royal Marines Chatham Division, with Royal Coat of Arms featuring two George VI cyphers, and Royal Marines badge.
  • Inscriptions:Painted in black lettering inside a golden background rectangle on the side of the shell, near the snare adjustment screw and vent hole, reading with text 45-degrees left-rotated in a single line: HENRY POTTER & CO., 36/8 West Street, Charing X Road, LONDON, W. C. 2.
  • Hornbostel-Sachs category:211.212.12 Individual double-skin cylindrical drums, both heads played
  • Repository:National Museum of the Royal Navy
  • Measurements:Diameter: 785mm; Width: 395mm