2-982-031 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Silver Kettledrums for the 5th Royal Irish Lancers, 1876. '...manufactured to the order of Lieutenant-Colonel Massey, honourably distinguished as "Redan Massey," by the firm of G. Potter and Co., at Aldershott. They are made in accordance with the latest principles of acoustic art as applied to musical instruments...[They] are intended to replace the former silver drums of the regiment, which were destroyed in the late fire at the Tower of London. They are hammered out of sterling sheet-silver...the "ring" of silver has a peculiar quality in relation to sound...Hence the admixture of that metal in bells, where its introduction is found to produce a most pleasing effect. In the present instance its superiority over the usual material employed is evident from the tone produced, which is both sweet and sonorous'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.