Eighteenth-century brown calfskin binding with gold tooling and 'chansons tres ancien 1525' on spine.
The total proceeds of sale in the calendar year 1950 were £13,200,781 for hides and £1,751,016 for calfskins, compared with £7,314,229 and £884,620 respectively in 1949.
This was made of fine calfskin, a predecessor of vellum.
In practice, therefore, the player of a calfskin-headed drum needs to have access to a second drum with plastic heads.
The brim was edged with black, varnished calfskin.
The membranes were originally goat or calfskin but most are now plastic.
Originally, the drumheads were white and opaque to help mimic the look of calfskin.
Throughout the 1960s, it was a fight to gain market acceptance, as purist jazzmen preferred the sound of natural calfskin.
