Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Rayburn
Carlton, as we discussed the 1916 Harvard broadside schedule is beyond cool. Your flushing out the details through your research makes it really special. I have to admit, I like the Hendee Indian drum as well.
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Thanks Rob and Bill...
Here's that Hendee Drum...
Sunday 7/2/23 I scored this very cool drum at the July Alameda Point Antiques Fair...not sure of much of anything about it for now...The dealer I got it from, who I see around at shows, is Native American and a teacher…she said she got it from friends near a pow-wow at the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation in Ledyard Connecticut…which is about 75 miles from Springfield Massachusetts where the Indian company was…only thing I know for sure is the patina looks old...like 1930ish...The original Indian motorcycles were made from 1901 to 1953 by the Hendee Manufacturing Company… the name was changed to the “Indian Motocycle Company” in 1923….I can’t find any other examples…which happens…Possibly on one hand, if Hendee Manufacturing Company issued the drum as an advertising piece before the name change the inscription might have been abbreviated to something like “Hendee Mfg. Co.”…not Hendee Indian Co…but that’s not written in stone…it could have been made after the name change and they were underlining the company history…especially considering the “1901” in the center…The Hendee company was very big on using Native American imagery and even adopted that nomenclature into their corporate culture…for example…company president George Hendee was called the Big Chief…co-founder and head designer Oscar Hedstrom was called the Medicine Man. The factory was called the Wigwam and the dealer network was called the Tribe. During the 1910s, Indian became the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world…Another guess would be that an Indian Motorcycle dealership may have made it for their showroom…who knows…all I know for now is I’m confident it’s old and it looks killer in my collection….
I’m now looking for photos of anyplace Indian motorcycles were exhibited between 1901-1953…such as International Exhibitions like the Panama Pacific where Indian Motorcycles were featured…
-World’s Fairs
-State Fairs
-County Fairs
-Motorcycle Dealer Shows
-Motorcycle Dealer Showrooms
