I bought this from a member at here at Vintage Drum Forum. When I saw the photo, I initially thought that I would be getting an early 1960's A. I was quite surprised when I opened the box and found out what it really was. Cymbals from this era were completely hand hammered just like the old trans stamps, but nobody knows how to recognize one type from the other as of yet, but me. The die stamp on this cymbal is identically the same as what's found on an early 60's type. Both were exactly the same even down to the tiniest detail. But I located an almost microscopic defect in the both dies that confirm them to both be identical without any doubt. Even so, there are 2 things about the manner in which this trademark was stamped in 1954 vs. how it was stamped in the early 60's, which I'll keep confidential until the timeline is finally released. But what I can tell you now is that these 2 unique things make correct identification of the 1954 type vs. the early 1960's type very easy.
This cymbal weighs 3083 grams. That would be a medium thin in my opinion. This must have been some old timers baby because it's in perfectly mint condition. Here's an on the stand photo:
[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/elvinscymbals/PICT1756.JPG[/img]
Here's 2 shots deigned to enhance the extensive hand hammering on this cymbal:
[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/elvinscymbals/PICT1676.jpg[/img]
[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/drumaholic/elvinscymbals/PICT1620.jpg[/img]
Here's a link to a soundfile of it. This will take a while, but I think you'll find it worth the wait:
And here's another soundfile played only with soft mallets. Download time for this one will be much shorter: