Black Beauty

So… I just picked up a legend in drum history. I now own a late 1920’s (or perhaps early 1930’s) Ludwig Black Beauty snare drum.  To be fair, it’s not the “real deal.”  It doesn’t have the fancy engraving and gold-plating that the standard Black Beauties are known for, and it’s got a few cosmetic flaws that made it affordable for a guy like me, but it’s super rad just the same.

Check out the clip-style hoops…

Now, all you vintage drum geeks need to help me out with this, because I can’t find very much info online about pre 1977 Black Beauties (Ludwig stopped producing these drums in the mid 30’s and didn’t reissue them again until ’77).  I think this one might be nickel-plated brass, which means it’s possibly an anniversary edition or something?  Whatever.  Fill in the blanks if you know about this kind of stuff.