DRUMMER CAFE

Hi
My first post here.
I bought a Premier Signia Marquis snare drum this week.  It's a nice drum, no problems with it at all.  The local retailer didn't offer much information regarding the drum other than he said it was made in England (says so on the metal plate).

Are there any Premier history buffs here that can help me figure out when and where this drum was made?

I think it's a maple shell.  It has a serial # on the plate.
I've recently been told via email that the Signia Marquis snare drums were made from 1990 to 1999; however, the retailer where I bought it says it's new.  I paid $425 CDN for it.

Kona

http://vintprem.moonfruit.com/ is pretty much the definitive site for vintage Premier stuff, but I think it only goes to the end of the 80s.

http://www.drumarchive.com/Premier/ has catalogs going into the 90s.

http://www.dmdrums.co.uk/ specialises in Premier. What Mike Ellis (proprietor) doesn't know about Premier simply isn't worth knowing.

Failing that, the Dolbear forum is awash with Premnerds.

Thanks - I sent an email to Mike Ellis just now.

And thanks to everyone else for the replies.

So far I've been able to find out that:

The Signia Marquis were made from about 1997 until about 2002.

The shell is 6mm/5ply North American Maple with no support rings. Marquis have die-cast hoops.

The normal Signias were 5mm/5ply maple with support rings and triple flanged hoops.
 Both types used the same lugs,snare strainers and holders.

They were made in the Premier factory in Leicester, England.

I've been told that the factory may not have kept records of the serial numbers so it is of no use for anything other than identifying the drum if it was stolen. This hasn't been confirmed yet.