Hanley Street in Birmingham What May the Drum & Flowers Signify?

[tonepad]

There is no sling around the ladies neck to support a drum.
Therefore would fall off her lap.
She has an unusual pose to be playing a drum, both sticks resting on the drum centre.
A bodhran is normally held with one hand and played with one stick.

 Would say she is supporting a specialised container by handheld straps.

[Ruskie]

Looking again, I think this does look like a drum. I only saw the thin top rim, but there is more depth to it with what looks like bunting around it. The sticks still look curved to me though. 

[groom]

It looks as if the company is still in existence, why not email them and ask if they have this photo in their archives? If so, they may be able to tell you the occasion it was taken.

http://www.engnet.co.uk/c/c.aspx/AME007/contact

[annmck]

Enlarging a snip for a better view, I agree with Ruskie 

[tonepad]

Ames, Stokes, Stevens & Son Ltd was dissolved a few years ago after about 150 years of operation.

Some directories still need to update their data.

[Treetotal]

Looking again, I think this does look like a drum. I only saw the thin top rim, but there is more depth to it with what looks like bunting around it. The sticks still look curved to me though. 

I thought it was a tray at first....then looking more closely I can see the sides of the drum between the strips of material that look like flags.

Carol

[Handypandy]

I must admit that I am now coming around to the idea that its a drum. I enlarged and sharpened the area a little and there does appear to be something there that could be the head tensioners. I did notice from the beginning that the woman's left hand is holding the 'stick' in the business position, but at first thought this may be a coincidence. Also, on closer inspection the drum does appear to be deeper than I first thought, part of it (on her left leg) may be obscured by her smock. I do wonder if the appearance of 'bent' sticks  may be that she was using them during the exposure.

Being the type of business they were in, I suppose its not a long stretch to imagine that they might have been involved in the manufacture of the hardware for the instrument.

[smethwickman]

All:

Many thanks for the swift and generous response to my original queries - excellent stuff. 

I ran the same questions by Carl Chinn and he suggested that the flowers sported could be symbolic of St. Patrick's Day.  I have detected no trace of 'Irishness' in the employees/families who worked at the Ames, Stokes, Stevens factory but given the large Irish diaspora in the city at that time, this theory is attractive.

As for the drum/hatbox/tray, I'm convinced it's a drum.  I can't post the higher resolution photo on this site due to attachment size restrictions but attached is a zoomed-in image.  It's a drum :-)

BTW, Ames, Stokes, Stevens did close down several years ago after 150+ years' of continuous operation.  The abandoned factory remains on Hanley Street looking rather forlorn. Very sad indeed :-(

Thanks again for your suggestions on this one - greatly appreciated.

[AJ100]

Just a thought - if there are no tensioners on the drum and the firm made metal wares so maybe it was a tin drum, as sold for children.

AJ