It looks like a late '50s stamp, It it small, approximately 1 1/4" from top to bottom?

If you ever want to check the weight of a cymbal, bring it to your local post office...

Cheers

+1 with Bos...looks like a 50's stamp to me. Great buy for $40!

Thanks for the input guys.

The stamp is almost exactly 1.25" tall.

Anybody have a link to a site that does a good job explaining the different stamps/eras? The one I found just had about 5 photos and very little explaination ... they looked way too similar to me.

grantro: Ok, tomorrow I go to the Post Office with the cymbal ... or are you pullin' my leg?:)

Thicker cymbals tend to be higher pitch with all else equal. I bet that bell cuts really well too!

Due to age and thickness, I think it might be a ride. How does it sound as a ride? If it is too washy, you can try the old 'duct tape' trick to tame it, but if it is that heavy, I doubt it will make a good crash.

Its definitely a '50s stamp. Similar is not the same as identical. The devil in is the details. Its those small differences such as the lack of, or presence of, the 3 dots in a triangular pattern in the U shaped Arabic letter, or the size of the stamp and the fonts used, or in the case of a trans stamp, whether the stamps edges are deeper then the rest of the stamp, or several other factors, that help define the range of years when the cymbal was made. There are several primers out there but all of them were copied or gleaned from the work of one man who is a member of this site. These sites are flawed in one way or another, some of them significantly, but they might be better than nothing as long as you understand they are flawed and don't credit the man that did all the research and created the naming conventions in the first place.

Sure looks like a 70s stamp to me.

There was a similar stamp in the seventies, but when I looked at the whole cymbal, the lathing and hammering looked '50s to me. Why do you think '70s.

Jim: I am on the road until Friday with no stand to set this cymbal on ... never travel without sticks though ... it's a heavy mutha ... clangy as a crash and a very clear high pitched ride with a very strong wash with lots of sustain ... all sitting on my finger in a hotel room ... so take that with a grain of salt!

The bell is strong but not as much as some ... and still retains the flavor of the cymbal as a whole, not a totally different tone.

I can't wait to get home, and set up with my small kit ... I was really looking for a 20 but this one just found me.

btw: I've used the duct tape fix on my 80's 22 ping with great success!Cool Dude

Rocketman and BosLover: This is exactly what I was talking about ... from the web sites I have visited there are too many similarities between stamps of different era's for me to tell ... and none of them mention lathing and hammering or overall shape as indicators. Let the experts weigh in and I'll look forward to learning something!!