RICK HARRISON: We got a drum. JUSTIN: It's a Civil War
drum you just can't beat. CHUMLEE: No, you could. [laughing]
[gunshot] [drum music] JUSTIN: I'm here today
to sell my Civil War drum my father gave me 30 years ago. My father being
an antique dealer, we have so many antiques,
this won't even make a dent. I want the drum
to go to somebody that can really appreciate it.
RICK HARRISON: OK. It's definitely cool, man. The way it was, when you
were out on the battlefield, they would have a different drum
beat for different commands-- attack, retreat, move
left, move right. Generally, younger boys would
be carrying these around. JUSTIN: Sure. But it was a gnarly job. From my understanding,
you didn't want to be the drummer boy. The enemy knew that if they
took the drummer boy out, it would be hard for them
to arrange and organize. RICK HARRISON: Everything
about the Civil War was just bad, anyway.
You know what I mean? It was just-- it was
a brutal, brutal war. So I imagine the
drummer boy would be-- it'd be tough. Some people have referred to
the Civil War as the boys war because so many of the
soldiers were children. The commander basically
looked at him and says, you're too young to carry a
gun and it's too damn heavy. Here, here's a drum. Is there any reason
why you think this is from the Civil War? JUSTIN: I've seen
other examples. It seems to to be Civil War. RICK HARRISON: OK, well, we
know it's not Revolutionary War because the whole
American civil thing hadn't been invented yet because
we had to win the war first. JUSTIN: Sure. There's been repairs to it. I can tell you that.
JUSTIN: Really? RICK HARRISON: That's
post-1900 hardware right there. JUSTIN: Right. RICK HARRISON: This right
here, a newer piece. This maybe is
original right here. See, it's all rotting
and everything like that. You would never expect
this thing to be 100% original if it was used. JUSTIN: OK. RICK HARRISON: And how much
do you want for this thing? JUSTIN: 12,000. RICK HARRISON: There's been
a lot of repairs done to it, and I still got to figure
out the date on it. So if you don't mind, I would
like to call a friend of mine in. He will know
everything about this. - All right, great.
- OK? OK, so hang on.
JUSTIN: Absolutely. Yeah, no problem.
Thank you. So this is the drum
I called you about. MARK HALL-PATTON: Oh, very nice. RICK HARRISON: He claims
it's from the Civil War. MARK HALL-PATTON: All right. You know, the youngest drummer
in the Civil War was nine? RICK HARRISON: Whoa. MARK HALL-PATTON: Yeah,
a fellow named John Clem. He was a little tiny kid.
- Sure. Yeah, I know. And you look at
him and you think, you were on the battlefield? The bombs going off and bullets
flying and beating on the drum to make sure that the
regiments were going where the general
wanted them to go, it's a huge role to play in it. JUSTIN: Sure. MARK HALL-PATTON: But
if you're a drummer, this was part of what defined
you on the battlefield, so people would
hold on to these. They're a very
nice display item, and they are in private
public collections. RICK HARRISON:
What do you think? JUSTIN: Is it of civil war era? [sighing] [tense music] MARK HALL-PATTON:
Um, I don't think so. OK. MARK HALL-PATTON: I think
this is a later piece. My guess is 1870s, 1880s. And this looks, to
me, like one that would have been used as a
parade drum post-Civil War. It's still 19th century,
I'm sure of that. It doesn't mean it couldn't
have been in the Civil War, but I don't believe so. OK. But there is a
market for them. There are people that
collect 19th century drums. RICK HARRISON: Thanks, man. - Thank you very much.
- Thank you. Thank you. RICK HARRISON: See, I
told you he's smart. JUSTIN: Very smart.
Nice guy. [laughing] All right, so how much
do you want for it now? Well, you know, he
did say it's possible it was used in the Civil War and-- It's possible I could
graduate from Harvard. JUSTIN: I don't know. [laughing] RICK HARRISON: I think
the fact of the matter is it's not Civil War, OK? [sigh] I'm looking at 500 bucks. You know, I can understand
not 12,000, but 500? You know, this is a
piece of Americana. RICK HARRISON: When you sell
something, you sell a story. The story previously was, as
you had a young boy in battle during the Civil War. We have-- now, the story is,
once every four or five months, they pulled this drum out and
they paraded down the street. Those are the
differences between them, and those are the
differences people pay. I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd sell it for
$1,000, but I can't sell it for anything less. [tense music] RICK HARRISON:
I'll tell you what. I'll go 900. [inhales] [exhales] Meet me in the middle,
950, and it's done. - All right, I'll do the 950.
- Cool, sounds good. All right. I accepted the 950
because it does take up too much space in my house. And with the kids and
the dogs, I figured I would accept his offer.
